The Stuff of Legends
by I've got Rhythm in my Soul
Summary: Oh, Percy Jackson? That guy? Yeah, we have a standing arrangement: he won't drown me if I don't drag him through the dirt. Strange though, I never thought I'd have to depend on him of all people but being a half blood hybrid can be such a pain in the ass.
1. Chapter 1

To all my readers... forgive what you are about to read. I actually wrote it a year ago before I even thought of joining fanfiction so if it's a bit rough around the edges I apologise.

**Hi! I'm the author.**

**Let me introduce you to Lucine Maximus Sullivan.**

**The new demi-god.**

**I was a little (just a little) vexed to find a rather large lack of Percy Jackson original characters on fanfiction so then I had a thought, much like a light bulb… make my own! …If I'm honest it took far too long to think of. My poor and tiny brain…**

**Unfortunately for my new character I'm about to dish out a whole load of crap on her head. **_**Big**_** stinking pile of crap… **

**But of course that's what always happens to a main character of a story like the 'Percy Jackson' story.**

**Can you say Greek Tragedy?**

**Trust me; Percy is the main hero in this little play…average…big, make that huge; the story will be epic.**

**But my girl Sullivan has her own shoes to fill too and will be bringing about a host of new and intriguing events. Basically it won't just be a re-run of the books.**

**This tale starts **_**after**_** the first novel/film: the lightning thief. **

**It will only be **_**based**_** upon the books. In relevance to the movie however one or two things have been added from the film but not much of anything else. I have furthered much to the storyline.**

**For example…**

**Percy is almost 15 not 12/13 (way more fun)… as is Lucine, Annabeth, Grover etc. Actually Lucine is 2 months older that Percy.**

**I'm thinking of combining the personalities of both the film and book versions of Grover but not sure yet. I'll let you know.**

**Percy has a somewhat different relationship with Lucine than the other characters… and I don't necessarily mean a romantic one, at least not a first… he has to work out his feelings for Annabeth and decide what to do about them… whatever they may be. Not saying.**

**Physically you can think of him looking like he does in the film since I've combined both film and book personalities; they are quite similar. However as he gets older he'll become somewhat more impressive i.e. taller, harder jaw line…**

**There maybe one or two other things/changes too.**

**The story will take part over the four subsequent years (if not more) of the books.**

**It will be full of drama, humour, romantic **_**implications**_** (let's wait until they're a tiny bit older) …oh and you're going to feel kind of sorry for my new heroin, at least in the beginning.**

**And yes there will be action…**

**Tons…**

…**Love it.**

**Please be kind.**

**Disclaimer: I do not own PJ but I do own my oc.**

The Stuff of Legends

**Book 1**

Percy Jackson and the Descendent of Heracles

Chapter 1:

**And so the New Girl Kills the Mother of All Cobras**

She'd always been told that she would reap what she sowed. And yet she was pretty sure she hadn't sowed a thing in her life that would justify this.

Getting the crap kicked out of you in the girl's bathroom at school… it was a low blow for anybody.

Not that she didn't fight back.

…Which maybe she shouldn't have considering it was _that_ that got her in even more trouble than usual.

She'd head butted Stevie.

The Queen Bee of Summerville High school.

The tyrannical teen had more than earned it. The 16 year old super model in training had made it her personal mission to make her life, the life of the new girl an absolute misery in the making.

Less than a year ago fresh faced 14 year old Lucine Maximus Sullivan had been enrolled into yet another new high school by her father. The kicker was that she was at more than a year younger than the rest of the class. Her academic performance was a head of her own year and previous teachers had advised on an advanced placement for her. Rather than be subjected to the obvious outcast status that _that_ would definitely bring her, she decided to just skip a year or two.

Not that this new plan would make her any less of a social pariah.

She hadn't meant to but in her very first week at Summerville High she'd managed to make the beauty queen of the class, year, school… look like an idiot. Not that it wasn't an especially difficult thing to do.

All she'd done is point out certain historical facts to Stevie Queenie who'd somehow mistaken painfully simple trivia from the Korean War with world war two. For example, World War 2 was _not_ about the Chinese…

Anyway ever since then she'd been placed on Stevie's personal shit list, er hit list.

Add the IQ to her outrageous name _(I mean Maximus, really? Thank you dad)_ plus the age difference, plus English accent, plus physical appearance (explained later), _plus_ ADHD and ADD and voila! Instant outsider status…

…And bully victim.

She wasn't necessarily very smart either, Lucine just read a lot. And that's not modesty it's truth.

She had nothing else to do since her father died… just weeks after she came to the school.

He'd had a contingency plan in case something like this ever happened.

In case he was killed…

She was Daddy's little girl. The world lost colour when he left her. Everything was black and white and grey…

Like old photo shot's of Stevie's fist currently coming in for a landing on Lucine's face. And this wasn't actually the first time something like this had transpired.

You know she's not a violent person by nature and she knew maybe three moves at most to dissuade an attacker.

But she knew _nothing_ of how to stop three girls all at least a year older than her systematically beating the crap out of her.

She'd never had the guts to raise a hand to Stevie, not once all year but the… the… _girl_ just _had_ to bring up her dead father.

Ergo… head butt.

Now recently 15 (this June) she couldn't even believe she'd actually done it and after a brief moment of pride felt a ripple of fear wash over her as the three of them stared at her like she was worse than something they'd stepped in. Like she was trash… a bug…

That needed to be squashed.

Also unfortunately Stevie was actually a tough cookie.

After that they'd dragged Lucine by the hair (_such a girly thing to do, I hate that_) into the bathroom where the three wanabe cheerleaders thoroughly tore a new one into her.

Nobody helped her… ever. While Stevie was paying attention to the new girl the other losers and nobodies were blissfully ignored.

Lucine felt there were only two consolations for her pitiful self.

One, Stevie's tag team couldn't hit for… well anything.

And two, Stevie had a black eye forming.

Keeping her arms raised covering her head and face, a defensive act soon rendered useless by the amount of times they'd been forced back down she wondered how long it would take for Stevie to defuse.

The girl had been at it for over 5 minutes and trust this; when you're on the floor and scared like Lucine was right now 5 minutes might as well be 5 hours. She would also love to admit that she coolly blocked the pain of those fists and feet but as always she felt every second of it.

The first time Lucine had been beat up she was pretty ashamed to admit that she'd cried and whimpered for hours on end afterwards… but back then she'd had her father there to comfort her. His very presence always made all the feelings she'd tried so hard to bury rise to the surface as if he were deliberately sucking out of her all her fear and pain.

…_God, I missed him._

Stevie finally paused, breathing shallowly as if she'd been on long run (such a chore) before standing back and stepping away from Lucine. Rubbing her bruised knuckles she nodded at her two friends who nodded back and walked out of the bathroom but not before pausing to kick the fallen girl in her side as they did so, as if reminding her that she was in fact worth nothing. _Cheers girls._

Then Stevie crouched down in front of her and Lucine actually flinched as if willing herself not to cower, which she hated about as much as she hated Stevie.

And Stevie saw it… and smiled… _cow_.

"That…" She said to Lucine quietly, "…was a warning. I'm not even close to done for making you pay for this." She pointed at her darkening eye and Lucine had to fight off the smile threatening to slide on her split lips. Then her head tilted in contemplation. "…Surprising though. Never thought you'd have the balls to do it."

"Well… I'm not a guy so…" She said as she licked her bloodied bottom lip.

Stevie actually smirked. It was an ugly thing. Then she lifted a single finger. "You get one."

Standing she made her way to the bathroom door leaving her victim slumped on the tiled floor. And of course Lucine's sarcastic reflex just had to kick in right then and there.

_I have a complex, an allergic reaction to absolute bullshit forced on me by bullies like Stevie._

"What, just the one?" She shook her head acerbically. "Karma Stevie, karma."

Silence…then Stevie turned slowly. "Don't push it. This is the most fun I've had in years. Usually I'm stopped before I go too far but…" She shrugged still smirking. "It looks like even the teachers don't like you enough to even help you." Then she sauntered out of the bathroom.

Lucine sighed, grateful to finally be alone; as if what just happened was as small as a slap on the wrist. Inside her heart was pounding and as she slowly and painfully pushed herself up, she winced at the vision of her face in the mirror.

She was black and blue and red. Not a pretty picture. Made all the bolder by her hair.

She had deep red hair. She'd say fiery red but then again fire is blue and orange. There was a warming quality to it that she liked. Down to earth but unusual. "Worth stroking" her father had once said. It was short too; a little longer than a boy's and it flicked naturally in different directions.

Her father was Richard Sullivan and the only similarity to their looks was the deep blue of their eyes and even then she won out in weirdness factor. Though almost violet her eyes also held in them a mix of at least five other colours circling and flickering on her iris, around the pupil, melting into the cerulean. Gold, green, yellow, ice blue, the slightest hint of grey… A ratio of about 70:30.

Her skin too was… unique.

There was a creamy olive/caramel quality to the colour and yet it was only a shade or two darker than most girls. A little like Baileys Irish Cream her father had said.

A note about Lucine's father before you all declare her officially obsessed.

He was the best person in the entire world to her. Night time or sunshine, through rain and storm he was always there protecting her and nurturing her weak, weak self.

She knew he'd died because of her. She _knew_ that, heart and soul. And she paid for it daily.

Richard Sullivan had a secret and unlike most boring secrets this one was deadly.

Throughout her short, happy but sad life she had been to 4 primary schools in England and 3 high schools in 2 countries in North America. This last one, Summerville, was near long Island. She hadn't visited the Empire State building yet but then again she'd been planning to go with her father before he…

She'd been able to sneak a glance at the horrid reports on her father's body. No pictures. He'd been ripped to pieces. There was no car accident on the freeway… Nothing much to pick up…

But you know sometimes that happens when you're a half blood.

Three years ago on Lucine's twelfth birthday he'd explained everything to her. Of course he'd had to especially after she'd been attacked in broad daylight by some serpent like creature that was far too big to fit in between the alley ways that it had hunted them both to. And then as if in a movie, her dad had gone and pulled an ancient archers bow from some hidden area in his coat. Like Narnia. In two seconds 3 arrows protruded from the monsters chest and it had exploded into sand molecules that quickly vanished. All in front of his open mouthed daughter who couldn't help but think that her father was the coolest thing since sliced bread… since Breaking Benjamin etc.

The weapon had somehow retracted in his hands to form a small engraved pocket-knife.

With a sheepish expression he'd taken her hand towed her back towards their apartment where they'd packed… _again_.

And he'd explained. The whole thing. And she'd believed every word. Now some may refer to her as too trusting and naive and maybe she was but my father never lied to her.

He was a half-blood. A son of Hermes, the Winged messenger of the Olympians, Warrior and God of travellers.

And as such he attracted a fair amount of mythological creatures. But if nothing he was a survivor.

Now normally that doesn't mean that any child conceived by a half-blood would be affected blood wise. However he'd been forced to at least get used to the possibility that his daughter was different too. After Lucine was born and after years of delving into the shadows and successfully hiding his demi-god self their attacks had increased and mainly around his daughter.

Puzzling though that she didn't have dyslexia. He mentioned to her that it can take years for a demi-god to awaken and show his or her true colours. They would also have ADHD, ADD and dyslexia. She didn't have the last one and yet she could read Greek almost as well as he could. She didn't show any other attributes of note except these and so her dad naturally thought that she wouldn't be targeted due to the weak nature of her connection to his world.

He was so wrong it was shocking.

The creatures began to slowly turn their sights on her. And every time they'd moved home. Home is where the heart is and their hearts were with one another.

She didn't have a mother. Apparently she died in childbirth or so her father said. There were no pictures of her around their old house, no memorabilia but her father wasn't bitter towards her. When she'd him asked he'd simply hugged her and said:

"Though I will always miss her she gave me you. You are all I need. How could I ever be bitter?"

Lucine thought about those words now as she stared at her colourful reflection in the bathroom. _So dad, proud of me now? Are you watching over me as I cower in the girl's bathroom? Please tell me you're not, how mortifying…_

She'd mourned the loss of her father but she didn't feel crushed by it. Every memory of him made her feel like she was swimming in chocolate. He was always with her. Even last winter when she'd had to make another run for it and had spent two weeks outside in the freezing cold over Christmas with the other homeless people; in sewers and near the docks. She was a survivor too; she just wished her dad had taught her self defence…

Lucine shook her head and reached for the tap. The water was refreshing on her aching face and hands. It was good that she was a naturally quick healer but even so the bruises would still be there a week from now. It was coming to the end of another school year and in a few days she'd be free.

She hadn't lied about her father's contingency plan, she just hadn't tried to follow it through yet.

He had a strong box stored in his bank and Lucine was instructed to go collect it and follow the instructions which were all coded in Greek writing. If he died or if she were attacked at school and couldn't get to him she was to leave and follow the co-ordinates.

But she'd waited. She wanted just once to complete a full year in school and to make her father proud whether he was with her or not. Richard Sullivan was quite the Smart Alec himself and knew how to work around the system being the 'government'. He'd past these _gifts _onto her who could con any teacher and forge any signature. She was currently living alone in her father's third apartment; she'd lied to the student councillor about staying with some Aunt or other. She had no one else. She felt weak, alone, a bit of a coward and detached.

For some inexplicable reason she knew once her exam results came through she would have to leave. It was finally time. For what she didn't know, but she knew that in just a little while everything would change.

_So yeah I had a bad day followed by a worse week._

Stevie had upped her game and it was all Lucine could do to keep dodging her.

She was the opposite of Stevie in everyway.

She wasn't tall or pretty. She didn't have much of a chest on her either and her hips where nonexistent. She was an oddball and always had been.

The last day of school was a relief in disguise. Luckily for her she'd received her results since they were _so_ going to expel her for what was about to happen anyway. She'd aced all her exams and so with a smile went to drop off her revision books at the school library.

When she'd first laid eyes on the Library room she'd been pleasantly surprised by its size and then immediately depressed by its lack of information on the Greeks and the Romans. Even so it had become a kind of sanctuary for her. A place where she new that Stevie would _never_ dare set foot in.

Except maybe today.

Her luck had run right out. Completely dry. Nothing left; like a stop watch. Her time was officially over.

In come the monsters. Out goes her childhood…what was left of it anyway.

There were three of them. Again. Stevie and her two body guards.

Lucine could just manage to see them through the gaps made between encyclopaedias and English literature on the 3 rows of books between her and them. She was sitting on the floor in an alcove between a row of books and a row of draws using the old dewy decimal system for the books.

They whispered to one another for a moment before Stevie sent her two followers off in different directions around the library and Lucine was sure her name passed their lips as they conversed.

"_Oh crap_." She whispered.

They were trying to pincer her in. It was the last day and Stevie could afford to be caught gallivanting around the library.

She moved quickly. One thing her dad had taught her was to always move, to _keep_ moving, and to never stop.

So she moved down one row of bookcases and poked her head around the side. Follower one was right there but facing the opposite direction so she ducked quickly into the isle across from her and down to the right. If she was lucky she might be able to reach the emergency exit without being caught.

But as we know luck would be rather absent for her today.

Managing to bob under another unit a few minutes later she quietly reached round the side and once she saw that she was out of sight leaped forward to touch the bar of the emergency door perpendicular to the front entrance. It opened-

And she immediately slammed it shut. For a moment she just stared down at the ground in shock… _Oh no…_

Then she pelted hell mell down the library, Stevie and her friends be damned. For what she just saw… she wasn't going to die for some bitch queen contest.

"There she is!"

Follower 2 shouted out as Lucine bulldozed passed her and leaped over a trolley of books.

"Out of the way!" She screamed.

And then follower 1 rammed into her from the side forcing her down painfully to the ground in front of a row of books on Art History. She gasped and fought to breathe as the girl got up.

"I've got her!" Her arms strained Lucine down.

She inhaled mouldy carpet as she tried to manoeuvre onto her back. "Get off me! I need to leave! We _all_ do!"

"Not bad Michelle."

_Oh perfect… _

There she stood. Stevie in all her mechanical doll wonder. But she didn't have the energy to fear her right now, she was more concerned with what she saw tearing up those stairs through the emergency exit.

Lucine tried to warn them. "Seriously, you need to get out of here now!"

Stevie had her hands on her hips, a smirk on her face, and a condescending note to her voice as she spoke.

"Really? You're actually going to-"

_**WHAM! **_Something huge, something long and serpentine slammed into Stevie so hard Lucine heard bones cracking and winced.

Michelle screamed something unintelligible and quickly moved off of her as she scrambled to her feet and darted around the first row of shelves. The thing's body just kept coming foot after foot after foot. Lucine watched with wide eyes as a monster of a snake no… cobra more or less whammed Stevie's body to the side and into Michelle who was knocked unconscious immediately.

This was actually happening. _In the middle of the library…_

Lucine's breath caught in her chest when the cobra's head swerved in her direction as if it had heard her thoughts.

It was Green, brown and glittered black. She'd think it was regal if it wasn't currently trying to eat her. _Why is it always a snake? No really, I want to know. Diversity people!_

Then it reared back and its mouth opened. Long gleaming fangs slowly slid out of its jaw and it hissed violently at her. _Yay me_. She'd made a friend. It had to be 20 feet tall, er long. Its eyes turned to slits and she swore she heard its voice in her mind.

_**Hybrid child**_

_Huh?_

Absently she knew her surroundings were in turmoil. The two librarians were currently under their desks and frantically hammering on their security buttons. She kind of figured that they should really stop screaming so as to not attract it's the deadly viper's attention. But then she remembered her father's words: _"It's the Mist you see. Mortals can't see creatures of myth. It's like a special cloak. All they do see is something their brains have volunteered for them, something that makes some sort of sense. It's one of the reasons I know that you're special too. You can see through the Mist like me Kiddo."_

So the middle aged women were seeing something completely different were they?

She wondered what and for one bizarre moment thought of a sumo wrestler charging into the library with a machine gun or a crocodile skimming its way here and there snapping at their old fashioned footwear.

Its head shot towards Lucine and she snapped out of her funk. One very awesome thing about the ADD was that it helped her increase her finesse whilst moving. She threw herself down the parallel isle and rolled on the floor coming up sprinting. The King Cobra dived after her.

Something was happening to her body. Her heart rate was increasing but it didn't bother her and rather than a warning sign it was more of support. As if she was downloading instructions. She was pretty freaking scared but she also felt exhilarated.

And an idea started to form in her mind.

_**Hybrid Child of the Half-Blood.**_

It was like the thing that wouldn't shut up.

She got the feeling that the creature was waiting for something to occur, something she didn't understand and didn't want to.

She looked back and jumped with a loud yelp when she saw it gaining on her. Kind of a stupid thing to do really seeing as it almost made her topple over. Her ankle threatened to twist and in her effort to stabilize herself she tried to rotate her body forward and to the side. The result was a side flip… or was it a no handed cartwheel?

She landed heavily and didn't stop though she blinked and faltered.

_How did I do that?_ It was a bit of a shock to the system.

That had never happened to her before.

Unfortunately this seemed to only increase the beast's fervour.

_**Hybrid Child! Still yourself! The Queen of all Cobras's commands you…**_

Wait… it was female? Really? …_Oookay_ then.

"What do you want from me?" Lucine shouted as she ducked into another isle.

**CRASH!**

And there goes a row of books.

The idea in her mind changed form and strengthened.

_**Found you!**_

The serpent's head had roved into the cornered area in which she'd been taking a breather and she jumped… _again_.

"_Good_ for _you_. Want a cookie?" Yeah good one there Lucine, aggravate the already aggravated Monster snake.

It hissed and hurled down the longest aisle of books. Half the Library was already in ruins by now as she ducked again to an opening in the side that the snake didn't see.

_**To consume a Hybrid Child would make me invincible. **_It hissed in her head. _**And if I were to fail… he he … it would only prove the existence of what many have been searching for. Not that you could ever kill one such as me- WHAT IS THIS!**_

She'd really had enough of this game of cat and mouse.

She just about managed to find her way to the head of the stacks and she threw her adrenaline full self upon the large bookcase until it bevelled in the opposite direction.

Do you know about Dominoes? No not the pizza place. The game. Well it was a little like that. Row upon row of book cases fell swiftly into one another with a resounding slam every second.

The Queen Cobra being as large as she was couldn't escape before being buried underneath God knows how many books. Lucine didn't have much time now so she sprinted to the other side of the library and vaulted up onto the Journal stacks at the end of the final row. She used these to leap up onto the support rafters for the lights in the ceiling where she crouched and pulled out her father's favourite weapon. The Grecian bow. She had an arrow notched by the time the Cobra's head crashed upwards and forced the mountain of books to each side. It hissed and spat until-

Lucine whistled. _Classy, I know._

Its head snapped up.

She grinned as she stared down the arrow at the creature.

Perfect bulls-eye.

And she released the arrow.

It hit the arrow dead centre in between the eyes and through the brain. The snake didn't so much as twitch and if she could read snake expressions with accuracy Luccine would have to say that it was astounded. It vanished into sandy dust almost instantly.

All of a sudden exhaustion hit her. She allowed the bow to morph back into its pocket-knife form. Then a panicked laugh escaped her throat as she looked around at the mess.

"Oops."

And of course it was at this moment that the school's security and half its teachers swarmed into the Library looking pathetic as they tried for fierce expressions and failing miserably. They'd come to stop what they thought was probably some sort of gang war in the school only to find…

Lucine.

Hanging by her merry self from the rafters with a pained but idiotic smile on her face as she waited for her own personal judgment day.

The headmaster was there too, the prat. Useless bugger. He spluttered wide eyed at the mess for a few short seconds before looking to her as his cheeks turned purple in an apoplectic fit.

"EXPULSION!"

**Yeah, I know… a bit rushed. Maybe. But it had to be. Anybody whose read the books know the detail involved in the stories. Plus I needed the intro chapter to be done with as quickly as possible. The chapter won't be quite so long or detailed as my bleach story; the pace is different.**

**Adios.**

**Oh, and review please!**


	2. The Satyr Trainer of Heroes is a Perv

**Right, I know I'm copying a certain awesome character from Walt Disney here but I couldn't let the opportunity slip. Plus it allows for story expansion. I love this character. I hope I did him justice.**

**The further the story develops the funnier, messier, more detailed and more intense it will become. So let it breathe people, let it breathe…**

Disclaimer: Thou shall not dare own PJ or Walt Disney

Chapter 2:

**The Satyr Trainer of Heroes Is a Perv**

So she'd been expelled. Not exactly something she felt the need to cry about. But now she needed to leave.

And they just wouldn't shut up long enough for her to get a word in edgeways.

Basically the headmaster had commanded Lucine down from the rafters, a place she would have rather stayed and made her sit in front of him as he screamed his head off at her studiously ignoring the bruises on her face and the fatigue in her eyes.

Then he and the other people who'd arrived too late by any standards started arguing amongst themselves about what to actually do about the whole mess.

And they'd forgotten all about the teen behind them. If they caught her leaving she'd be forced into the principal's office to wait while they called the police. Then she'd have to make a statement and as her luck would have it she'd probably be arrested and sent to Juvie.

But they were all so engrossed with taking the limelight for attention seeker hill that she decided to take the chance and slipped quietly off of her stool.

Catching one of the Librarian's eyes as she passed she whispered, "Yeah… tell them I won't be coming back next year."

The woman just looked at her and for a moment Lucine wondered if what had just occurred had given her some sort of brain trauma before she blinked an 'o.k.' at her. Hmmm… maybe she had seen something after all. _Well I did save their lives… in a way… sort of._

She sprinted from school to the bank to pick up the strongbox and then staggered home. The day had left her weak and weary and it wasn't even sundown yet. She had to be gone form her apartment by morning before any unwelcome visitors show up: both the Police and mythical monsters.

Her home was semi-clean and sorted. She had a large purple and black duffle bag that she plopped down on the bed before unceremoniously throwing items of clothing and other necessities in. Then she got to the photo album. Just the one; her dad hadn't had time to process more. She sat for a time and curled her feet up on the sofa as she flicked through her memories with a small smile playing on her features.

She was asleep before she could stop myself.

Now dreams were something only demi-gods didn't take for granted. Her father said he'd once received one and sometimes he'd get flashes of feeling. She used to dream all the time when she was younger but they stopped years ago as if someone had pulled the plug.

Now Lucine dreamt of a camp.

Everything in the dream was as real to her as the life she lived in.

There were seemingly endless fields of Strawberries.

A blue house stood tall overlooking a valley of some kind and numerous kids and adults where practising… training. Like real live warriors, like heroes. Ancient Greek buildings crowded here and there like an architects wet dream. Strange little creatures flitted across her vision from here to there and from the small snatches of frame she could see they were creatures of the wood. Her father often told her small stories of brave satyrs and picky naiads but to see one in person was an altogether different experience.

And then the scene changed; it went from tranquil to ominous in 2 seconds.

She wasn't sightseeing at the camp anymore; she'd been transported to someplace. This time she was somewhere dark and moderately creepy and estimated that she was underground. A low rumbling turned into a horrifyingly loud roar as she heard the snapping of massive chains. The ground beneath her feet vibrated and she swore she could count a rhythm within the thumping. The last detail of this little vision showed an image of what looked like a fifty foot three headed dog charging at her…

And then the vision started to fade but before it released her the scene shifted yet again and she trespassed on what appeared to be a rocky precipice. On the top of this dark horizon stood three women who shared a single eye and a tooth. All were extremely ugly with the old age custom appearance of three witches. The Grey Sisters.

The first with no eye or tooth spoke first. Her mouth opened to reveal a dark gummy inside.

…_For there has been a trespasser upon the Kingdom of the Dead…_

…_And he has stolen from the fields of punishment…_

…_To reap a façade of future dread…_

The second woman with a single tooth spoke next.

…_To beg from Persephone you must…_

…_For Hades himself to preserve…_

…_The fate of your family…_

…_The fate of the world…_

The third and last witch spoke with one large green eye penetrating into her soul.

…_You must see with eyes unclouded by hate, by distrust and fear…_

…_Only then will they see clear…_

…_That blood alone doesn't always tell…_

…_The fate of the Reaper can sow as well…_

Then they all spoke as one.

_Seek out the Satyr, the trident hero and the dog of three._

_Go now…_

The three ladies waited for something to happen until one of them began to huff with impatience and the others watched (in their own way, they had no eyes) in amusement as if they had been waiting for her to start. Lucine was pretty bored by now herself. Then the aggravated one opened her mouth and rolled her one eye:

"_Well get going then hero! Don't keep us waiting another 3 millennia_!"

And Lucine was slammed out of the barren waste lands of eternity before she could shout a retort.

She awoke with her hands gripping the sides of the couch as the now closed photo album fell from her lap to the floor. She searched for the time and on the wall it read 10:00pm; she'd been asleep for almost five hours. _Damn it! _

Jumping up she flashed about the room plonking the rest of the clothes that she liked best into the large bag along with her photo album and a few other things. A wad of cash stuck on the underside of her bed made its way in there with a decent amount stored into her purse for emergencies. She grabbed a few things off of her nightstand to place in the empty pockets of the duffle, grabbed some Twinkies, a bottle of coke, orange juice and a bag of potato chips into the top of the bag along with a brioche loaf that would last the day and made it to the door.

Taking her keys off the small stand she took one last look at the apartment. Something inside her knew she'd never be coming back to it. She grinned, turned off the light and closed the door behind her but with a centimetre opening.

As she walked away she took a box of matches out of her pocket and lit one placing it gently against the rest so that they too would slowly alight. She put the box on the floor outside the door in front of the opening and hurried down the hall.

Now nobody lived on either side of Lucine, she'd made sure. The last time she had moved with my father the monsters had simply retraced their steps from the scent they'd left at their previous dwelling. They were attacked within an hour of their escape. You see her dad had taught her some simple protective wards that could be placed around the apartment to keep out monsters. But they weakened over time and once outside she was a sitting duck if they happened to latch onto her odour.

So this time as she'd been searching the kitchen for food, just a few minutes before she'd left she'd ripped the oven away from its sockets in the wall and had let the gas stream out.

She jogged leisurely down the stairs.

Then left the apartment complex.

And as she crossed the road-

_**KABOOM!**_

Burn baby, burn.

Light flared around her from above as her apartment exploded in a whirl of fire and debris. You see this way the police can come up with any story that they wish to. Besides she used a different name at school anyway. There she was Luna May Sorrow.

Fitting huh?

As the heat hit her back she went into the night, the strongbox tucked safely in her arms and she ignored the frantic calls and screams of the public. She'd done her homework and timed the whole thing perfectly. Nobody had been hurt, no possessions lost and everyone had evacuated just as she'd left visual range.

And so she disappeared in plain sight.

The strongbox held within it instructions written in Greek just like her father had explained. It told her to go to a place downtown on 5th called Phil's Loot and ask to speak to the Boss. Some sort of Antique boutique that stayed open even at the latest of hours.

When she arrived however she slumped to find that it was indeed closed. The sign on front told her that the owner was across the street and to make any and all inquiries to Olympus Post.

She turned 180 and almost dropped her belongs in shocked disgust/humour.

Across the street was a club that flashed blue, pink and yellow neon signs: The Downtown Wood Land Nymphs.

A Strip Joint.

Two burly looking body guards were out-front. She figured they weren't exactly human from their yellow cat like eyes.

_So this Phil guy's a perv? I can handle that… you've gotta be kidding me though… please? Just this once? No? …Okay then…_

Just as she wondered how she could actually get into an over 18s club when she only turned 15 a couple of weeks ago the large green and black front door opened to reveal another even larger bouncer who was having trouble dragging something into the open that just didn't want to leave the club.

She almost doubled over in hilarity when she saw that the dude the monstrously muscular bouncer was having so much trouble with was a man who was at least a foot smaller than she was.

And describing the guy as a 'man' was pushing it.

He was a satyr. And he was shouting out to the inside of the club as his fingers clamped around the door.

"No, wait, wait ladies please! No, come back! Come baaaaccccck- OW!"

He was thrown abruptly onto the tarmac road, several metres outside of the club. The big bouncer guy had to actually take a few quick breaths before resuming his imposing er pose, arms crossed across his chest and staring down at the satyr.

She shook her head and approached him as he picked himself up off the road muttering curses at the bouncers who glared back at him as their pupils turned to slits.

Lucine realised he was even shorter than she thought he was. She was short; barely 5"2 as of 5 months ago. Or at least she was short in comparison to the older people in her class. This guy was 2 feet smaller than she was and he turned to look at her bemused expression as she looked down at him. She blinked in surprise.

_Holy… It was a Grecian Danny DeVito copy cat! A Danny DeVito Satyr!_

He flicked off a speck of dust on his arm that wasn't there and with a grin and the haughty air of Hugh Heffner spoke to her.

"Nymphs! They can't keep their hands off me."

"Sure." Lucine swallowed her grin. "Er, are you…" She checked her instructions again as he watched with a frown. "…Philoctettes?"

He sighed and held out a hand as he started making his way towards his store. "Call me Phil."

"PHIL!"

"OW!"

In a moment of happy respite she'd latched onto his hand and squeezed too hard for her own good and turned his hands into something that resembled a single sausage.

She smiled sheepishly and scratched her head. "Oh, sorry about that. I was just er, relieved."

He looked down at his throbbing fingers dubious scowl. "Uh huh." He limped, like all satyrs do, over to his shop and started to open it up. "That's some grip you got there… Kinda reminds me of someone."

She perked up. "Ooh, Richard Sullivan?!"

The satyr whipped round.

He pointed at her as he stumbled, his eyes wide. "You're Rick's daughter?!" She nodded, grinned and did an internal happy dance when he referred to her dad as 'Rick'. Like the male lead in the movie 'The Mummy'. Cool. The satyr slapped his hand against his forehead. "Ah crap… guess it's time pay up on that favour." His hand slipped off his face and the small satyr took a good look at her with surprisingly observant eyes. "You don't look much like him, well except the eyes of course…"

She tilted her head with a shrewd expression on her face. "How do you know my dad and what's this favour you're supposed to pay up?"

He held out three fingers. "Three words: long story." Then he turned to enter his shop.

She blinked and mumbled. "That's two words." And Lucine debated whether to follow.

He shouted from inside the shop. "So are you coming in or what?!"

"Coming!"

She hurried in and closed the door behind her. Then as she turned to examine the interior of the shop more closely she gasped at the amount of small ancient artefacts he had hidden behind extremely ordinary pieces of antique craftsmanship.

"Wow." She said softly as she went to touch some charred piece of a vest.

"Watch it! That's Achilles' breast plate you're mauling!"

Lucine jumped back. "What, seriously!" The satyr moved through the shop without looking at anything. Perfect muscle memory.

He huffed. "Yeah, _seriously, _who did you think trained him?"

She racked her memory. "Er, I thought it was Chiron?"

He rolled his eyes at her. "Yeah, it's always _him_ they remember." He rustled to the back of the store and she followed noticing how the upholstery changed into something a little freer, outdoorsy, pine wood and open spaces. He continued to talk as he walked; grabbing a plate from a side bench and taking a huge chunk out of it, oblivious to Lucine's dropped jaw. "Well, he wasn't alone on his one man, uh, one _centaur's_ quest to save the world." Then the little satyr laughed. "…Would-be has-beens anyway." He ended the mutter with a sigh.

She frowned at his saddened expression. "Would-be has-beens?"

They stopped at what looked like a locker room; the left wall was complete filled with office cabinets, the other lockers and there was a slight smell of grape with a _metallic_ scent in the air.

Philoctettes turned and gave her a tired kind of glare. Then he pressed a button on the wall and a scraping sound echoed through the room as the cabinets slowly slid to the side to reveal an opening in the wall. Old pictures and scriptures, even medals hung all over the space all with extremely famous names engraved on them, if her Greek was as good as she thought. "Theseus, Odysseus, Perseus, Jason, heh even Achilles let me down. Each of their stories ended in disaster, and none of them stayed heroes."

"But I thought Perseus got a happy ending."

"Yeah, but he settled down. His first and last great act of heroism done and gone before he was 30. Hec, before he was 25!" The tone of his voice made it sound as though this was the worst thing that could ever happen. As if heroes should end their days fighting horrors.

Plus she was a little confused. Lucine had come to find Phil at her father's request and she wasn't quite sure what to do now that she had. But still… she was fascinated. He was a real trainer of heroes. And he had a New Yorker accent.

"But then there was Hercules."

His voice was wistful and she looked at him to see a small smile lighten his features as he looked to his past. The change made his eyes sparkle like a child's and Lucine almost gulped.

"The man wouldn't stay down. He never stopped. He took on giants too …ah I couldn't have been prouder if he was my own kid. He even ended up with his face in the stars. I mean it's not like I wanted all heroes to have a hard life… I just thought it a waste to let go of all that potential. Heroes were needed long after _those_ guys put up their shields." He added at her confused look.

She let him reminisce for a second before he turned back into Attitude R US Phil.

"So. What do you want me for?"

Lucine sighed and set down her bag feeling suddenly foolish. "My dad told me that when the time was right I had to come find you." And then she remembered the dream she'd had. "…And he wasn't the only one."

He raised a sceptical eyebrow. "Huh?"

"The Grey Sisters sent me a dream."

The satyr stilled for so long Lucine wondered if she'd uttered some sort forbidden word that caused lock jaw in its listeners until a loud groan sounded from his mouth. "You've gotta be kidding me! I haven't been involved with any demi-god in decades! Just because three old bags decide to-"

"I thought you said you owed my dad a favour?" She asked politely and he glowered at her. It wasn't even remotely intimidating; it actually made her want to pat him on the head or something.

Then he blushed and her curiosity rose. "Yeah, well that's a more personal item of er… kids like you aren't supposed to hear about stuff like this! Where is your father anyway?"

Lucine just looked at him and waited for him to get it.

And then the obviousness of the expression reached him and he closed his eyes and sighed. His shoulders slumped and he stayed quiet like that for a time.

"I'm sorry kid."

She half-smiled and shrugged. For some reason she knew that Phil knew just how much she'd lost in loosing Richard Sullivan.

"So you want to be a hero kid? Just because your father was a demi-god?" And attitude Phil was alive and kicking again. "You have to be a demi-god to, you know, _be_ a demi-god."

"I know." She nodded. "But… there's something different about me too. I don't know what it is but today I was attacked by the Queen of all Cobras and-"

"WOW! Hold up!" His hands made a slashing motion. "You fought The Queen Cobra herself? …_You_?"

Lucine nodded again this time with innocence icing.

It took a moment and then he started shaking with silent laughter and she pouted. When the laugh became a roar of hysteria she started tapping her foot on the floor and folded her arms waiting for his fit to finally finish.

He hiccupped. "Heh."

"Are you done?" She asked with a raised eyebrow.

"No, I'm about to start another round. You should keep talking this could take a while."

She glowered at him. "_Okay_… Well I shot her in between the eyes with my bow and…"

She trailed off when the laughter started up again.

"Oh come on! Is it so hard to believe?! Do I really look that pathetic to you?!"

"Hell yeah!" He shouted in between laughs. "You're a skinny little nobody!"

She frowned. "You know, I've survived all by myself for almost a year since my dad died. I'm not completely inept. All I'm asking for is some help."

As the last laugh sighed from his lips he straightened for a second and then started to scratch his head as he looked her over with a critical eye.

"How strong are you?" He muttered at her.

The conversational change disrupted the rhythm of her thoughts for a moment. "Er… I'm not sure. Why?"

He didn't reply. Instead he pushed off the locker he was leaning on and began to walk away. "Look kid, it isn't me you should be speaking to here. You need to get to that camp they've got for you guys…"

"Camp?"

"Half-Blood Hill." Even as he spoke the words she knew that she was indeed supposed to go to this place. There she'd find some answers to who or _what_ she was.

"Well could you point me in the right direction at least? I'm kind of clueless here?" She said feeling helpless.

"Hadn't noticed." The satyr grumbled.

Lucine ignored the slight and waited for him to make his mind up. If anything she wanted him to accompany her there. For some unfathomable reason she felt that he had to join her; that she had arrived on his doorstep because she was suppose to, because she was fated to. Now normally she didn't put much stock in fate. She believed that the concept of fate is what people made of it; through the choices of each and every individual was what made the earth the way it is today.

Though of course she would ignore the fact that people had also caused their fair share of appalling acts of travesty and slaughter. But hey, right now she needed to think positive.

Unfortunately Phil wasn't given the time to make what seemed like a simple decision when in fact it was the kind that would change the scope of his existence forever.

A crash was heard out form the front of the store and Phil became still.

She frowned. "What is it?"

"Shush!"

He scampered out of the locker room and she followed him past the back rooms towards the noise that growing increasingly raucous. She swore she heard a hiss and a cackle.

Philoctettes stopped just in view of the rest of the store past the counter and ducked dragging her with him. Briefly he glanced around the side and froze. Lucine frowned and nudged him and he whirled to look at her; he'd gone pale and his eyes where as big as the plate he was gnawing on.

"_Scythian Dracaenae_." He whispered as he shook comically in fear, his knees knocking together with his fingers over his mouth. Dragon women, Lucine translated.

Craning her neck over the side she smacked Phil's hand out of the way as he tried to drag her back down and she fought to see what the hell dragon women were.

And not for the first time she wished she wasn't so bloody curious.

There were two, humanoid in shape from what she could see in the darkness of the store and the moonlight coming through the window. What made her blanch were the legs. Each had twin serpents for legs and both were freakishly tall and probably fast as a fox as well.

She whipped back down and squeaked even quieter than Phil had, then whispered with an even more comic expression of fear on her face. "_Dragon Women_!"

"_That's what I said_!" He whispered furiously back.

All Lucine had was a bow (albeit Grecian) that had once been her father's and possessed little past experience with it. The Giant Cobra had been a lucky kill but even if she was remotely fortunate now (and never had been in the past) she'd be able to take out just _one_ of the monsters, at best.

Counting on Philoctettes wasn't an option either. She'd been out of the game too long seeing as how he was cowering even worse than she was. He taught heroes to be heroic; he himself was not by any meaning of the word a hero.

Lucine almost yelped again when he grabbed her hand to drag her back through the various backrooms but him being so small made her stoop and trip so like the obvious lucky absentee freak of nature she was alerted the two Scythian Dracaenae to their positions. She heard them hiss and talk and say, "this way!" in Greek as she and Phil scrambled to the back. Phil locked the door with a deadbolt and she shoved two of the lockers in front of it afterwards.

"Is there another way out of here?!" She shouted at the satyr.

"Yeah, but first thing's first!" He yelled fearfully.

He ran to flick another button on the wall next to the first and the remaining lockers folded to the side to reveal a cabinet behind them. He opened it and pulled out a small metal case and threw it quick to her and she immediately tucked it into her large bag. Then he grabbed a knapsack of his own and laced his arm through the handle just as the two monster women hammered on the door. And by hammered she saw that it actually shook on its hinges and forced the deadlock into a metal groan as it started to twist around.

"Am-scram!" Phil blitzed past her and headed through a smaller concealed door under the buttons. It closed automatically behind her as she followed and they made their way through a short width of corridor before both she and the satyr made it to the road at the back of the shop.

Behind them they heard a faint crash.

Phil rounded on her instantly. "Geez! What the hell did you do?! Smoke a temple?!"

Lucine looked at him as she sprinted towards the bus stop; he had trouble keeping up and she slowed. "What do you mean _me_?! They could have been after you!" And even as she said it she knew he was right.

"I haven't been attacked in a long time. Trust me! I'm not that much of a threat! _You're_ the one they're after!"

They both caught the bus a moment later and after a slight bit of trepidation on Phil's part got on board after she shoved him inside and paid the driver.

"The Mist will cover you so stop worrying about it." Lucine whispered in his ear.

He mumbled all the way to the back of the bus where they both sat and glanced out of the windows nervously. As the bus drove away they both watched as the back door of his shop was blasted to pieces.

He moaned and she felt a nice measure of guilt settle on her shoulders. "My shop! I'm never going to be able to go back… and that _sweet_ bar across from my place…"

The guilt evaporated on the spot. "You mean the strip club."

He just kept muttering to himself and Lucine stayed silent until he said, "I've gotta show you the way to Camp Half-Blood. You won't be safe until you get there."

She tried not to let the sinking disappointment show. "You could come with me you know. Train heroes again. You could train me, I suck!"

"You don't have to tell me that!" Then he blinked as if caught. "Hell no! I'm too old to get into the hero business again."

"Are you sure?" She said as her eyes pleaded with him. "I need to prove myself to Zeus and all the other Olympians to give me a chance. To be a real hero." Lucine couldn't understand why this meant so much too her. All she knew was that she wouldn't get anywhere without the guidance and aid that only a god or goddess could bestow upon her.

But he started laughing again even though his eyes were serious.

"You know Achilles? He wanted to be a hero so much he went off to Troy and got himself killed. He was too young to die but he ignored the stupid prophecy proclaiming his death and he went anyway." He looked at Lucine. "Is that what you want?" Then he shook his head when she tried to open her mouth. "Trust me kid, the hero business is for rookies who don't know better."

"But Phil I can go the distance!"

"Oh please! You want me to take you to camp! You want me to train you! It's always pain and disappointment with… well except for Hercules."

She watched as his face changed to a hopeful kind of grimace before it shattered completely.

He shook his head and raised his arms to form an x shape. "My answer is two words!-"

The air tingled with static and you could almost smell the ozone. Phil quieted and stared out the window. "Oh no…"

Before Lucine could ask what the problem was she was thrown towards the window as a bolt of lightning hit bus. It must have been relatively weak in force because it didn't blow a hole through the roof. What it did do was spread an electric charge throughout the vehicle; a whirl of blue voltage making the hair on her arms stand on end but not doing much of anything else. Phil however got a good bolt of it as he started to singe and his hair looked like he'd stuck his finger in a plug socket. He stood shocked and ramrod on his seat as the whole bus went crazy. The passengers went crazy as they held onto their seats in fear. The wheels skidded to a stop and driver cursed as the engine smoked steam. He ran off the bus to stare at it from the outside as if looking for a clue to the massive electric shock.

Meanwhile the passengers all shouted and ran after him as if afraid that remaining behind would only ensure future shock therapy.

Phil and Lucine were left alone on the bus.

The satyr blinked and she waited on tender hooks hoping he was alright and really wishing she could laugh without giving offence. He looked ridiculous. She tapped her fingers against her cushioned seat and hummed a tune that didn't make sense.

Then Phil exhaled. "Alright… I'll take you to camp." He wheezed sounding utterly defeated. And yet, Lucine noticed, not all together bothered by it.

She smiled with sincerity as he slowly made his way off of the seat. "Really? Will you help with my training as well?"

"No-"

The sky started to rumble again and his eyes flickered up.

"Maybe." He added grudgingly… and with a small smile of hopeless defeat. He sighed and looked at her.

"Zeus must have something in mind for you. Are you sure you want to go? To be a hero means you have to stick with your choices."

She raised an eyebrow. "Well then we'll just have to see how I do then won't we."

The satyr shook his head with a grin and grabbed her arm. "Come on, we've gotta split before we catch more unwanted attention."

They climbed off the bus and walked slowly around the passengers trying to effectively go by them without being noticed. Slowly they made their way to the trees on the side of the road.

As they stepped through some over grown bushes Phil spoke again.

"I'll take you to long Island South. We've got a bit of walking to do. Here…"

He passed her his Knapsack. "Satyrs like me don't do well with luggage."

Lucine narrowed his eyes. Great, she'd become his personal baggage handler. Then he spoke again.

"You know…"

She turned towards him.

"…I'd lost hope that there would ever be another hero for me to train, I'm not saying I _will_ train you mind but… this feels a lot like the beginning of a Bards story. Never met a female hero before." He saw her frown in dissatisfaction. "Hey don't look at me like that! It's true. There aren't many heroines out there. And that reminds me…"

"Hmm?"

"Who's you're mother kid?"

She rolled her eyes. "I have a name you know and it isn't 'kid'."

"Oh, excuse me oh mighty hero! What is thy name?" He bowed patronizingly at her.

She sighed. "It's going to take me a while before I earn the title of even a _junior_ hero… and my name is Lucine. Lucine Maximus Sullivan."

She saw a whisper of another smile cross the satyr's features.

"That's kind of a mouthful… I'll call you Luce. So Luce, who was your mother?"

Lucine stopped next to a tree.

"Honestly? I have no idea. My father didn't say a thing about her."

Phil looked up at her with a sad quality his face.

"Do you think she was a goddess maybe?"

She shrugged. "Really, I haven't any clue as to who she may or may not be. My dad he never… I always got the feeling that it was too painful to talk about her." She looked down at Phil who was scratching his chin in thought. "Did you know her?"

He looked up and blinked. "No. The last time I saw your pops was about 10 years ago. He didn't say much to me, he just gave me that metal case in your bag there."

She tilted her head, curious. "What's inside the box?"

"Never you mind." She slumped.

"Come on. We've a ways to go before we get there."

They continued on through the trees under the guidance of the moon's light. She remembered the smile he had earlier…

"Why did you smile when I told you my name?"

The Satyr laughed. "Oh, it was just something Rick used to say. He told me that life should be lived 'to the Max'. It was so typical of him to name you Lucine Maximus. Maximus means 'The Greatest'."

She nodded. "And Lucine means 'Light'. You know my name is hyphenated right?"

"Huh?"

"My name. Lucine-Maximus. It's one name."

He chuckled with raised eyebrows. "I bet you had fun in high school."

**Lucine-Maximus= the Greatest Light.**

**Obviously her dad loved her.**

**Okay, I need to say that this. The updates on this won't be frequent. At least not for a while. I'm currently job hunting, volunteering, finishing my dissertation and trying desperately to make do with the fact that I have no idea what to do with my life.**

**But soon… soon I shall make amends.**

**Just give me some time.**

**Love you all.**


	3. Chapter 3

Disclaimer: I respect the books too much to force my presence on them in any way.

**Shaybo27: My number one fanfic fan! You like both stories?! Awesomesauce! I give you permission to picture the Walt Disney Philoctettes the way he's depicted in the cartoon. In fact I insist on it. Please do because that's exactly how I see him too. I'm being a bad girl; I'm keeping the characters similar to the books but I'm adding qualities from that cartoon, from original Greek and Roman history and from films (I'll explain more with each chapter). So I'm abusing my creative license. And I don't care. There are no decent oc's for the Percy Jackson fanfictions so I'm trying my hand at it. Hopefully it won't be too bad.**

**So yes, to all out there who are wondering about Percy's power play in this story...**

**He's going to rock. I'm going to be arming him up to the teeth... eventually. But don't think that I'm making Lucine into a powerhouse all of a sudden. Her only supposed skill so far is archery. The one lucky shot she had with the Queen Cobra? That's it. She's on a quest to explore what she can really do... and Percy will be the perfect incentive. I mean come on the guy possess the power of hydrokinesis. He's a demon with a blade. He's a progeny at battle awareness... trust me. No over bearing, enormous, superhuman traits for Lucine just yet. Just her bow. Awesome. I can feel the issue of self esteem coming through strongly. A complex will probably form and my oc will be crying at me for weeks... Great.**

Chapter 3:

**Chased by the Hound Dog from Hell and a Pine Tree Say's Hello**

Philoctettes didn't seem as hung up about having to escort Lucine to Half-Blood Hill as much as she thought he would be. On the contrary he looked kind of animated and lively, he took in large gulps of the night air as if it had revitalising properties unknown to man and she unconsciously did the same.

They both walked down the dark country roads of the tip of long Island sharing the brioche loaf and orange juice she'd taken from her apartment. She had to admit, talking with Philoctettes was great fun. He told her a few of the naughtier stories he had of old heroes, or famous people to date that were secretly demi-gods.

He also explained that every now and then the god's or the fates… and sometimes the Grey Sister's (who were also the fates in a cunning disguise of sorts) sent him people to train or to guide or even just to aid in a quest. He wasn't sure what fate had in mind for Lucine and when she explained to him that she didn't believe in fate he just laughed at her (something he was doing a lot of on this trip) and said: "Trust me kid, give it a month, two tops and you'll be cursing fate the same way we all do."

Yeah, he still called her kid, just in concurrence with 'Luce'.

The last time she'd checked her watch it was nearing the 2:15am mark and that was at least 30 minutes ago. Phil had stopped a few times on the way talking to woodland creatures and so forth. So it must be closing 3:00am. _Great_.

The long road was shadowy; the moon had long since been hidden by cloud coverage. She felt an unusual chill in the air, weird in that it was Summer now and chills were few and far in between.

But without any warning at all Lucine felt as if they were being watched.

"Phil?" She said quietly.

He finished munching the brioche loaf wrapper. "Mmm?"

"Do you feel that?"

"Feel what? Dead leg? My hooves are killing me, that's for sure."

She turned to look this way and that. "…That's not what I meant." Then the girl stopped.

A huge Pine tree, the kind you only saw on television in Washington DC covered in Christmas lights stood about 100 metres up the hill about 45 degrees to their right.

Phil hummed in surprise and she turned towards him with a raised eyebrow. He shrugged and pointed at the tree.

"Never seen that there before."

As the breeze around them began to pick up the leaves of the tree began to swish and Lucine heard its whisper in the wind.

_Sssshhhhhhhhhssssswwwwwsssss …_

And she felt its energy, like hands held out in greeting, in welcome.

…_LLLuuuuucccciiiinnneee…_

_Whoa_… "It's supposed to be there." She muttered and Phil looked at her.

"Huh?"

She nodded to herself. "The tree. It's supposed to be there. It's telling us to come."

"…The tree is telling you to come?"

He spoke slowly as if she were deranged… which was pretty much how she knew she sounded. "I'm a satyr, a woodland creature, we talk to trees too but trust me kid when I say that you sound kind of nuts right now… might want to keep it down when we reach the camp."

"We need to get off the road."

He snorted. "Why, did the tree tell you so?"

Lucine shivered and gulped down a wad of fear. "Yes, but also because of **that**."

Phil looked in the direction she was pointing in and froze as he gasped, like one big chunk of air had been forced too fast down his gullet.

There, standing less than 100 metres behind the two of them on the dark, foreboding road was a large black dog. It had lava red eyes and fangs like daggers. It must have been about the size of a rhino, maybe a small one. It was staring right at them, at _Lucine_ and she figured that the only reason it was remaining so diligently still was because it was waiting for them to move first. Like a cue.

"_Mommy_!" Phil squeaked.

Wide eyed she glimpsed Philoctettes out of the corner of her eye as she stared down the impossibly massive hound. "Do you even _have_ a mommy?!" She hissed back as she tried to ignore the churning terror in her stomach.

She saw his eyes trailing over the massive Mastiff's hind quarters, each as thick as a tree branch and watched how the large hound's chest inhaled and exhaled. Its jaw looked physically powerful enough to tear through bone. "_Everyone_ has a mother!" Phil whimpered back.

"What do we do?" She asked as the hound growled. "That's a Hellhound isn't it Phil?"

"Yeah, that's a hellhound alright." She saw the satyr tense. "And a Hellhound means…"

When he started to take a step back she yelped. "What are you doing?!" _He was going to get us killed._

As Phil's hoof hit the dirt behind him the Hellhound barked a loud ferocious snarl and pushed off its hind quarters.

"…Hellhound means AM-SCRAM!"

Phil shot up the hill behind her and she was bombed up after him as the dog pounded away behind them. For every step they sprinted it took at least 2; they'd never make it to the camp border line before it was tearing them into little chunk size pieces. She knew that it was there for her, to drag her down to the underworld, to face punishment for something she didn't remember doing.

"Phil, keep going!" She shouted at him as she turned in the opposite direction.

"What? HEY KID, WHAT ARE YOU DOING?!" She glimpsed him twist his head around out of the corner of her eye as she sprinted back the way they came in a head on collision with the closing Hellhound. "ARE YOU CRAZY?!" _Probably_.

The dog seemed to falter for a split second in surprise as she charged but it didn't stop, if anything its speed increased.

This was perfect for her actually.

You know if you ignore the fact you're terrified you can do just about anything and get away with it assuming you have a decent tactic of course.

She didn't have much time (the thing was a super dog) and bile was starting to climb her oesophagus. She just hoped that Phil made it to the borderline in case this goes horribly wrong… and it really might.

Just before she collided with the determined Hellhound she braced both legs on the ground and forced all the power she had in them as her body tingled like it did that morning (or rather the day before) in the library with the cobra, down to her feet and pushed off the ground.

Her body lifted to about 15 feet in the air in a kind of slow twisting somersault over the dog and down behind. The dog had watched her every move and as its head lifted to see her soar it forgot to check its own footing and ended up tripping over its own feet to end up face down in the mud.

In her brief moment of respite Lucine looked up to see that Phil had finally managed to reach the borderline. His hands were cupped over his mouth and he was shouting something at her.

"Not bad kid! Are you alright?!"

"I'm fine!" She was puzzled; why didn't he just go get help?

The dog was up again and was prowling around her in a semi-circle. Any moment now it would charge and she would be doggy chow.

And then it leapt at her.

And she moved without thought.

As its jaw came to within a foot of her face she rammed her closed fist into its muzzle and heard teeth crack even as her knuckles throbbed. She could feel each of the muscles in her arm straining and stretching, she could feel the earth vibrating and rippling underfoot, and it was a peculiar sensation she had to admit but somehow… she'd made herself stronger.

She shook her right hand to loosen the soreness as the Hellhound howled and fell backwards wining. Lucine glanced back at Phil. "Phil, this thing's on _steroids_!"

Even from here she could see Phil's jaw hanging well and truly open by its hinges. She'd surprised him, and he _still_ wasn't running to get any help.

…And then she was on her back as the Mastiff slammed her to the ground; it was too quick for her to process.

It pinned her down and she only had a moment to take in its horrible breath, the fact that it couldn't open its jaw, the claws currently digging into her chest and arms, the weight of the Hellhound and that at any moment it would either head butt her, chew her face off or claw her to death.

She heard Phil yell out, panic stricken. "KID! LUCE! GET UP!"

Well she was trying. But then the Hellhound dug its claws into her arm and she cried out. In fact her whole body did _and_ the ground beneath her. It fluxed and a wave of energy overcame her as she pushed up with all her might, her arms and knees smacking into the Hellhound so that it was actually lifted about 20 feet in to the air. A shocked kind of whimper escaped it and its big dangerously red eyes blinked in confusion.

She'd think it was comical in any other situation.

As it fell she systematically pulled out her father's pocket knife and activated it letting an arrow fly into its jugular just as it landed next to her, the velocity of the shot having forced the dog out of alignment with her body. The corpse melted into shadow, into the ground as it vanished completely.

She groaned and heard the sound of hooves moving frantically towards her.

"Luce! Kid, you okay?" His hand actually checked her forehead as she nodded. The moment he noticed her bloodied shoulders and arms he lifted one of them over his shoulder to tug her up into position.

"How did I do chief?" She hazarded the question.

He smiled. "Not bad. We'll make a hero out of you yet." Her side hurt and she limped with Phil up the hill. After a little while she walked by herself; her stamina was pretty impressive.

Then she smirked. "We?"

Caught, Phil just grumbled like the grouch he was and gestured down hill.

About a quarter of a mile down stood what looked like a farm house. In the darkness Lucine could just make out a blue roof; there was a large, _several_ large fields next to it. Far off she could see other buildings and areas whose function she couldn't actualize. Lit torches provided some light here and there and she knew were she was; the dream she'd had… this was the place for demi-gods…

…Except she wasn't one. She was the _daughter_ of a demi-god… right?

…**oOo…**

Making it down towards the farm house (that secretly looked more like a holiday condo; four stories high) she wondered if anyone was up and about. Checked her watch and finding it at 3:25am she thought her and Phil were pushing the Greek xenia a bit too far.

But when Phil knocked on the door; the satyr had rushed ahead of her to bang on the oak finished wood, there was a few seconds of silence before she heard the clapping of more hooves against a wooden floor and these claps sounded heavier than Phil's.

The large door opened without a creak and straight away an arrow head, one much larger than her Grecian bow had provided was pointed directly at Phil's nose and she couldn't resist the snort of laughter that bubbled out of her as Phil held his hands up with wide eyes saying, "I surrender!"

There was a small very masculine gasp and the arrow came away as the door was pushed further open. Light faintly lit the area around them and she began to say the obligatory words one says in new company when her mouth decided to get stuck half way at the sight in front of her.

The guy was huge… and he was a centaur. A beautiful one by the looks of it; the upper half close to middle aged human and the lower a brown palomino horse.

He was staring, _gaping_ at Phil who was grinning back at him like an old friend. She was completely ignored, which was fine as the teen was still having trouble picking her jaw up off the floor.

"Philoctettes." The centaur said, as quiet as a whisper. "By the God's it's good to see you again my old friend!" He bent down to grasp Phil's arm and as Phil held onto his, the centaur pulled him up into the air in a bone crushing hug.

Phil wheezed. "Alright already! _Geez,_ put me down Chiron." The horse-man did so whilst laughing and Phil shook his head and coughed. "Good to see you too. It's been a while."

"Too long." Chiron muttered. He had a sweet expression of happy nostalgia covering his face.

Lucine nearly jumped as Chiron looked over at her, a welcoming and warm smile implanted now on his jaw. "Who's this?"

Phil chuckled and she frowned at him.

"She's a bit of a surprise that's what." He gestured back for her to move forward. "C'mere kid let me introduce you to the _second_ best ever trainer of heroes." Chiron laughed again as she went to shake his hand.

Then Phil finished. "This is Lucine Maximus Sullivan. Rick's daughter…"

Chiron's grip on her hand tightened instantly.

"It can't be…" He whispered as he now gave her a thorough once over with his penetrating gaze.

He looked back at Phil. "What happened to Rick?"

A little annoyed that he hadn't asked _her_ she answered before Phil could; the satyr had obligingly waited for her to do so anyway.

"He died 10 months ago."

Chiron looked back to her, staring for a moment before sighing. His grip slackened and he held her one hand in two before speaking; his voice thick with sadness. "I'm so sorry Lucine."

She gave him a nod and for some reason she couldn't seem to find the will to fake a smile. Chiron was like the perfect young Grandpa. Lucine couldn't lie with her emotions with him like she could with Phil.

Then the centaur let her hand go and he sighed again.

"Again I'm sorry. I wasn't trying to be rude. Your father and I were quite close. I didn't even know he had a daughter." Then he smiled at her as he looked her over. "And yet here you are. And you bring back one of my oldest of friends." His expression turned more serious. "Unusual and possibly fated to bring him here at a time when he will be much needed again."

Phil sighed and scratched his head. "Yeah, I got a nice kick from Zeus a couple of hours ago."

Chiron tilted his head. "Oh really." She was pretty sure he was suppressing laughter.

Phil shivered; from the slight chill or from past memories she wasn't sure. "Are we coming in or what Chiron, I'm shivering out here and the kid, she's injured."

"Injured?" Chiron pulled her gently into the light. "I should have realised." He whispered as he looked at the blood on my clothes then shook his head. "Please come inside. I'm sure you have quite a story to tell."

She was given possibly the softest blanked she'd ever felt. The hot chocolate was terrific as was the warm stew. She was politely asked to take off her top around a cover screen and was passed a bright orange t-shirt with the logo: **Camp Half-Blood** written on the front. Given that she was a little short the shirt fell almost to her thighs.

Afterwards Chiron had her sitting in a chair while he had his horse legs folded gracefully under him on a shag carpet. Phil was drinking something that smelled kind of fruity and looking all the better for it.

As Chiron dabbed at the wounds on her body with a cotton wool ball he spoke to her. Once Phil had explained a few things for example where he had been these past years, what he could add to Lucine's explanation of the night's events Chiron had given Lucine his full ear. She realised the importance the demi-gods had to him at that moment. To him they were everything that was truly vital. And he treated her as such even though she knew she couldn't possibly be a demi-god…

"You say you were attacked by a Hellhound?" She nodded. "But your wounds are superficial at best. You said his claws raked your skin, well; it looks like you were simply nipped. I don't take you for an attention seeker so I'd say either some God is working in some mysterious way, the Hound didn't act as it should have done or… you have a healing power."

His eyebrows lifted up at her in question and she blinked.

_Me?_ _A healing power? _

"Oh, I don't know Chiron."

She whipped her head at Phil to find him watching them.

"I'd say the damn dog was acting _exactly_ as it should have. It's just that, well, she broke its face before it could eat her."

One of Chiron's eyebrows fell to create a powerful shrewd quality to his expression.

"Did she? Was a trophy left Phil?"

_Huh?_

"Trophy…?"

Before she could continue Phil opened his hand to reveal a single blood red eye. The eye itself was coated in a gold kind of sheen like a cover that hadn't been there when it was inside the eye socket of the Hellhound. There was even a small hole at the top as if it could be worn on a necklace or something, and a gold cover screen with Greek runes chiselled on it covered the red Iris. It was actually rather pretty… except that it was a severed eyeball and all.

"Where did you get that?" She asked.

"It was left behind for you to keep."

"You want me to keep an eyeball?"

Chiron spoke. "It's a trophy. Kleos. A symbol of an achievement. It conveys to _others_ that you are in fact worthy of the title hero. It's been awhile since someone has received a trophy outside of camp and on their first arrival too. Well, except for Percy that is."

She wanted to roll her eyes at the name. _I mean Percy_? Was it deliberate? A euphemism for the famed hero, the only hero who received a happy ending.

Looking back at the… _gift_… she laughed a little nervously. "Are you sure you don't want it Phil?"

He shook his head with a smile. "Nah, wouldn't look good on _this_." He puffed out his chest.

She nodded patronisingly. "_Thanks_."

"You'll be getting a camp necklace; you can put it on that." _Gee whiz_.

Chiron stretched and wandered off into the kitchen area of the 'Big House' and Lucine took a look down at her arms. He was right; they didn't feel half as bad as before.

"How strong are you?"

Chiron called out so suddenly it took her a moment to figure out what he'd just asked to understand why it sounded strange to her. Then she got it. Phil had asked her the same thing earlier this evening.

"Er…" She looked nonplussed at Phil who was staring seriously at Chiron. "I'm not sure. Before today I'd say I was barely average in strength but after the Hellhound… and the Cobra Queen…" She shook my head not willing to give an estimate just yet.

Chiron nodded back in acknowledgment before continuing.

"A Hellhound attacked you and you defeated it. Despite the display of skill that only the most prolific of heroes demonstrate on their first outing I'd say we have a problem…"

He clopped out of the kitchen with a large clear glass of cool liquid; kind of tropical looking.

"I think I might know what the problem is but first things first. This…" He presented the cup to her and she automatically licked her lips; it looked great. She didn't miss however the quick, nervous glance the two trainers exchanged. "Is something that will eradicate all possible infection as well as clear up any other nasty bruises like the one colouring rather beautifully on your ribs."

She nodded gratefully and took the drink noticing how both ancient men where staring at her intensely. She took a sip…

…And sighed with a smile.

It was fabulous. All her favourite things in one drink and that included food and scents… cake mix and cookie dough, Chinese food and battered chicken, strawberries, blueberries and plums, she could go on for hours on end and not finish.

The end result concluded in her feeling completely revitalised though a few hours sleep wouldn't go amiss.

But when she lifted her head to offer her profuse thanks she saw Chiron and Phil exchanging another glance. This time however Chiron was smiling widely and Phil was looking thunderstruck.

"What is it?" She asked tentatively

Phil whistled. "Oh boy."

Chiron pointed at the now empty glass. "I just gave you a drink called ambrosia. It's the-"

"…Drink of the gods yeah, I remember my studies. I still don't understand."

Chiron smiled at her. "Good memory! But you see, only a god or a demi-god can drink the liquid without well…"

"Spontaneously combusting." Added Phil helpfully.

Two things rammed into her conscious right then and there.

"Wait." Chiron stiffened at her tone. "You gave me this stuff not knowing if I would survive it!"

He raised his hands in a placated gesture. "I was 90% certain I was correct in my initial assessment of you."

"_Only_ 90%!"

"Please trust me. You don't smell human my dear. You smell like a demi-god, albeit one with a slightly different bite to her but a demi-god all the same."

Lucine stared up at him in shock and whirled to stare at Phil too but he looked as flabbergasted as she did. "Don't look at me kid! I didn't have a clue. Although… I kind of guessed something was off about you from the start."

"Oh really?" She narrowed her eyes at him. "Well thank you for finally sharing this piece of extremely helpful information." Yeah, she was a little upset. "It would have been helpful to know that I smelled like the juiciest t-bone ever to every creature of myth out there before I stepped out into the world on my own!"

"Lucine…"

Chiron's voice already had the perfect soothing affect on her brain that she'd never experienced before.

She looked at him wounded and fearful and he radiated sympathy like a hug.

"My mother…" She uttered. "She was a goddess?"

He nodded and spoke in a quiet tone of voice. "I think it's a logical summation to conclude with at this point."

"Huh?" Said Phil.

She spoke absently. "He means yes. My mother is a goddess."

And a trickle of fear crawled within her as she held down the urge to curl up on the sofa and dream forever. "What do I do now then?" She whispered unsure to Chiron.

He took control of the conversation for which she was grateful. "Now you need to rest. Normally I'd have you bunk at your father's old cabin, Hermes but it's a little late or should I say early to do so." He took in the time on his oak cloak. "We'll wait until later."

Phil scratched at his beard. "A demi-god and a goddess. This hasn't been heard of before."

Chiron nodded. "Yes. Goddesses have been known to guide and favour some heroes more than others but to ah er…" He looked at girl sideways suddenly embarrassed and she shook her head with a sigh.

"You can say it. You know, _sex_. Just get it over with already. Sex."

Chiron actually looked a little flustered as he tried to finish. "Yes… quite. Ah…"

"So what does this mean for Luce?" Asked Phil from the corner of the cackling fireplace.

For a moment the centaur seemed to contemplate.

"It's unclear why this has happened or why it has happened now. But I do not believe in coincidences and this seems to coincide rather suspiciously and perfectly with recent events. Fate had something planed for you my dear." He extended a hand towards Lucine. "Your destiny maybe tied with that of a few other heroes here at camp. One of which will be arriving here tomorrow evening in fact." He sounded momentarily content by this fact.

"Let me guess. This 'Percy' you referred to." She probed.

He nodded.

"A son of Zeus or son of Poseidon?" It was an understandable supposition.

Chiron's eyes twinkled at her. "Poseidon."

Phil coughed into his drink. "Hah! The pact of the big three didn't last long huh?"

"Quite." Agreed Chiron. "But what else is to be expected…"

"…From anthropomorphic super beings?" She finished helpfully.

The centaur laughed lightly. "You're quite quick on the mark Lucine. I expect you were one of the few of my students here who actually enjoy school."

"I enjoy _learning_." She corrected and he nodded.

"So what's the pact of the Big Three?" Lucine asked the room at large.

She saw Chiron give a small wince as Phil smiled. "Kid… that is a _long_ story."

…**oOo…**

It _was_ a long story.

The very idea of Zeus, Poseidon and Hades making such a pact was a bit ridiculous to Lucine. From the very basic working knowledge of Greek mythology it was horribly clear that all the gods couldn't keep their lustful natures in their pants were they belonged.

Basically, they were very _human_. It didn't say much about humans as a whole did it?

And as such children had sprung. The gods and goddesses were all allowed their moments of overwhelming emotion but according to Chiron there were close to 150 campers at the camp.

The immortal supremes must have had a _lot_ of moments of overwhelming passion.

It was… sort of irresponsible. But also understandable; loneliness was a powerful driving force.

She'd slept on the couch after that.

Six hours later the sunlight streaming in through the windows woke her. Blinking against the sharpness of it she rose off of the makeshift bed and took in the smell of scrambled eggs and toast. She could hear pots clattering and figured Chiron was in there. Saliva accumulated in her mouth and she rushed forwards-

-Something stopped her.

It wasn't a sound, or a smell, or something in her vision.

It was a pull in her head, a whisper.

Curious she tiptoed away from the delicious fumes in the kitchen and moved sideways towards the stairs of the old farmhouse. The décor was lovely and warm. A large wooden staircase raised two floors upwards and she moved to climb them. There was something on the second floor that she was supposed to see. Shrugging, she continued past a hallway and came to a stop.

Just right of the top most stair was a hatch above her head. A trapdoor that lead to the attic. She moved a hand upwards to open the door but before she touched the handle greenish smoke that reeked of decay filtered fast through the millimetre wide gap on each side of the square opening.

A loud croak and gasp of air sounded from behind the door and Lucine gasped hearing once again the words uttered in her dream by the Grey Sisters.

Then the greenish smoke blasted outwards. "Whoa!" She yelped before blitzing it back down the stairs.

At the bottom of the stairs she came face to face with a man whose appearance was so strange she actually stumbled backwards.

The man looked down at her with concern. He was covered with eyes. He _was_ eyes. Eyes on his face, his neck, his arms, legs, any skin that was showing and his hair was blond.

_I wonder how he gets out of the bathroom in the morning or if he uses it to… my mind just to a very bad place…_

"Hi?" She asked uncertainly. "I'm a fly on the wall, completely ignore me."

The clip clop of hooves was heard before she saw Chiron appear from the vestibule that led outside. "Good morning." Taking in her wide eyed self his brow wrinkled in concern. "Lucine, are you alright? I was calling you for breakfast. Oh I see you've met Argus."

She made a sort of squeaky, 'uh huh' sound that actually caused the many eyed individual to grin. He held out a hand for her and she took it smiling properly for the first time and conveying that she was sorry for her stupidity. Argus shook his head.

"You weren't warned. It's understandable." He said and gestured from the girl to Chiron. "Breakfast?"

Chiron nodded. "Please."

The centaur brought her outside onto the porch were a table and two chairs were set overlooking the long green fields.

"What were you doing on the stairs?"

Lucine looked at him as she sat (he kneeled and she wondered whether the wooden floor was actually comfortable for his horse legs). "Sorry, I wasn't trying to snoop."

He raised a hand. "It's quite alright, though in future I would suggest an air of caution. Not everything is as it seems here."

She peered at him. "What's in the attic?"

His eyes snapped towards her. "Why?" He queried softly.

"I heard a whisper and there was this greenish smoke." She shook her head. "It doesn't matter."

"Was there anything else?"

"…No."

Her hesitant answer told him she was hiding something but instead of bombarding her with questions he merely smiled and nodded in understanding.

Argus came through the glass doors to present them with their English breakfast: scrambled eggs, tomatoes, mushrooms and sausages with several helpings of toast.

"Thank you Argus." Chiron said warmly and Lucine smiled in way of gratitude.

_Wow…_ it tasted really good. She could get used to this.

Stevie Queenie seemed a million light years away now. As if he'd been reading her mind the kind centaur spoke. "The bruises on your face look like they were quite painful to acquire my dear."

Her mouth full of food she did a jerky kind of head bob and her cheeks puffed in her effort to chew quickly. Chiron chuckled at her as she finally swallowed.

"Ah, it wasn't anything big. I suffer from an affliction, an affliction which prevents me from tolerating any and all crap sprouting from the mouths of my peers. This feature gets me into all kinds of trouble." She finished with a slight smirk. She'd learned how to laugh at herself a long time ago.

His chuckle turned into an all out laugh. "Very good!"

She mocked bowed from across the table.

He asked her a few other questions during the remainder of their breakfast which surprisingly enough pertained to her life in general rather than her uniqueness. Her past schools, her test results (both eyebrows raised suspiciously high when he heard her say she's past exams two years ahead of her age), the times she'd had with her father…

"Your father was quite the hero when he was here. An image that somewhat clashed with his title as the camp hell raiser." His beard twitched.

Her eyes lit up and she threw him an incredulous smile. "What, _really_?"

He nodded. "Oh, Yes. If he wasn't daring the son's of Ares into mortal combat he was making his, ah, 'moves' on the ladies. Quite the charmer your father."

She laughed. "Now _that_ I do believe. My father was very handsome. I don't look like him at all." When she said it she meant it as a literal truth rather than a self criticism and he seemed to accept that.

He gestured towards her. "Your features are quite striking if you don't mind me saying so. I'm trying to place you among the other campers but… none of them seem to fit the bill as your kin."

She sighed forlornly. "I _am_ a conundrum."

He shook his head at her acerbic manner and his tail flicked.

"I've already talked to the camp director for you and we're discussing to arrange more appropriate sleeping quarters for you."

Lucine blinked. "The couch was pretty comfy… you know I could just sleep in the wilderness. I've camped before." She shrugged.

But Chiron looked scandalised and refused no matter what she said.

"Can I take a look around?" She asked after they'd finished. She'd caught sight of the place from atop the hill and in her dream but it wasn't the same. She didn't have any of her other senses to rely on for what everything smelled like and tasted like, felt like etc.

The centaur rose to his full height. "Of course. In fact I wanted to escort you myself but I have business to attend to; the boy I told you of last night is arriving earlier than expected and I have to…"

She slashed a hand through the air. "Say no more Sir. I will be more than okay with investigating on my own."

"Please call me Chiron."

She nodded with a tentative smile.

"And I won't be long; there are still some things we need to discuss, that I'd _like_ to talk with you about." He said reassuringly.

Lucine glanced around. "Er, where's Phil?"

His lips twitched. "My old friend is currently visiting the Council of Cloven Elders. He's been gone a long time. It's an assembly of the wisest and most respected satyrs." He explained at her confused expression.

_Huh…_ she thought. "Why do I have a feeling he's not going to enjoy the experience?"

At her dry tone the centaur chuckled again._ I made a centaur laugh at least twice today. Score… _internally her eyes rolled. _Way to set the bar low for yourself Lucine…_

The camp was beautiful.

From the fruit trees to the rivers and streams.

From where she stood Lucine caught glimpse of an open air pavilion beside which stood a grand amphitheatre which spoke to her on a more primal level. Would she one day fight in one? It was all so very Greek. There was an archery range were several teenagers were already trying their hand with longbows and a few kids were racing in some canoes. A volleyball match was thundering playfully inside a sand pit and a satyr was making its way towards the open bank of a river.

She made her way over to the reflective surface of the water. Beyond the trees was a rolling mass of hills and green life. She heard birds sing and wondered for the first time why her father hadn't ever talked about such a place with her.

Tittering streams of laughter echoed out across the water and she looked askance at a group situated by the canoe trail. A brow arched. Girls. Lots of them ranging from about age 13 to 18 and all as stunning as their parentage; these _had_ to be daughters of Aphrodite. They were super replicas of their idols, all in training for America's next top model. Black hair, blonde hair it didn't matter; their facial structure sold them out as siblings. Lucine couldn't help but frown in distaste when each female fluttered their lashes teasingly at a boy who was walking past.

_Ugh, I think I'm going to vomit._

Obviously _her_ mother _wasn't_ the amorous Goddess Aphrodite.

Like when she realised with bombshell Stevie; Lucine was far from curvaceous and apart from the boldness of her hair and eyes (her lack of boobs and bum was _not_ a subject she would venture into, she didn't want to spend the glorious day in a state of self imposed depression) she lacked any and all of the qualities that would put her anywhere near those girls.

She heard another perfect laugh from the group of cheerleaders and closed her eyes, breathing in the fresh air of the camp. She wondered what they were trying to accomplish there by the water. _Trying to improve of the perfection of their reflections? _She mused. _It's all a façade…_

Her thoughts came to a cold halt when she opened her eyes just in time to glimpse the small wave of water heading right for her face. It hit her immediately and she was drenched through to the bone. _What the…?_

Spluttering indignantly, she glanced down at herself and groaned. Everything was wet, wet, wet. The new top presented to her from Chiron ruined, her hair stuck to her face, her frame freezing. And of course there was mud from the side bank slowly trailing down the side of her face.

Just another day in the luckless world of Lucine-Maximus.

She heard the group laugh raucously and her thoughts turned dark with visions of drowning each and every one of the Barbie dolls in the stream, wondering how they'd fair without their makeup. Taking a breath she turned to leave with as much dignity as possible but as she glanced back towards the group (who were still laughing at her cheerfully; _mean girls_) she caught a blurry view of a black haired boy standing close to them. She wiped her eyes of the left over mud and cringed at the thought that he was probably laughing at her too. _You may leave the school behind but obviously the school doesn't leave you._

When she'd finished wiping she glanced up into green eyes…

"Percy, you're so funny!" One of the girl's said to him with a tinkling laugh that reminded Lucine more of a hyena than anything else.

The son of Poseidon?

Whose main power was control… over… water…

_Did he…?_

Lucine's mortified expression quickly turned into a death glare.

The guy had the intelligence to gulp.

**Xenia: Greek word meaning hospitality. In greek mythology (especially throughout the works of the Odyssey and Iliad) Xenia was a mark of the true Greek. You would welcome travellers and strangers even into your home; feed them etc _before_ asking them about themselves. It was to show that everyone was equal in terms of human power. Plus! An immortal God/Godess may one day stumble across your doorstep in disgise as a beggar. You would be foolish to turn away ugliness in case of the beauty and possibility that lies within. **

**Kleos: Renown/glory. A hero earns renown after accomplishing great deeds either through word of mouth or through trophies/riches. **

**If there's one thing Lucine can gloat about it's that she's somewhat educated. She's a smartass.**

**And that, ladies and gentleman, was the last chapter I had saved on my computer from well over a year ago. The first few pages for chapter 4 are saved as well so when its released (soon!) there will probably be a difference in the way I right and narrate. I will be improving on certain aspects of the story as well so hopefully it will still be fine. **

**Au'revoir!**


	4. Chapter 4

Disclaimer: who in their right mind would put _me_ in charge?

**Shaybo27: I love your enthusiasm; I just hope I can live up to your expectations. About the films I may/may not use: it will probably be the small moments I pilfer but they may only be from the well known films. I'm just not sure yet. Besides it's going to be a pretty big story so who knows what will happen. By all means read up on your gods and goddess... dosn't mean you'll guess it though mwahahahaha! ...Er, ahem, ah... So you like my fight scenes?! Great, because I love them too. There's a reason she could break the hell hounds jaw... won't tell though. **

Chapter 4:

**Never get into a Mud Fight with the Son of Poseidon**

"Ugh…"

Phil grumbled and dragged a hand down his face in misery.

He didn't want to be here. He'd been pulled away from that sweet, _sweet_ nymph…

It wasn't fun for a satyr, especially one such as himself, to sit down for so long and listen to the spiel from old man Silenus (though he was younger than Phil by about, oh I don't know, several thousand years), one of the Elders of the Cloven Council, who was only there to stick his two cents where it didn't belong.

_Things_ always occurred around Philoctettes and Silenus was one of the few that tended to benefit from those happenings.

"Philoctettes?" Silenus had said when the trainer of heroes first limped through the forest hedgerow. "The long absent trainer of heroes returns I see. Shouldn't you be off gallivanting after nymphs and worshiping the relics of your past failures?" The raised brow of the wood creature implied a supercilious smugness that shot right up Phil's back.

Phil bristled and the tips of his ears reddened: always a danger sign. "Watch it bub."

But Silenus's pompous reply was overtaken by the cries of others who wandered into the clearing, curious as to the new arrival as they'd talked.

"Phil!"

"It's Philoctettes!"

The majority of the satyrs however where blissful at the idea of his return.

Unlike the rest of the satyr race, Phil had been blessed by the gods for his services as a hero trainer to live a life as long as an immortal. This alone incurred the adulation of his fellows.

Thankfully the hot-headed satyr had chosen a time where the younger members of the populace where out of sight to fawn all over him; just a group of grumpy, know it all elders.

…Fun.

After he'd given a rather enthusiastic encampment of the events of the previous 12 hours he'd been forced to sit in with the discussions of the council. More fun. Just peachy.

If he had much more fun he'd probably kill himself: death by sheer boredom.

He was a trainer of heroes, a free living chaser of nymphs and all things striking, _not_ a council sit in.

He hadn't even had the time to stroll through the sweetness of the forest and take in the home he'd left some twenty years ago.

"Look…" He began after his patience had run dry (which wasn't very long at all). "I haven't been apart of this council for a long time. As in _centuries_. Off and on. I only came here to grease the wheels of friendship. Now that I have I'm gone." He didn't even need to actually see them at all. He answered to a higher authority, thankfully. Otherwise he'd have been forced to take part in the protection of feckless, ignorant or just doomed demi-gods _and_ in the foolish quest of the searchers.

_Heh, not a chance, I'm not that stupid._

Phil hoped down from the trunk he'd been sitting on and pulled a twig from the fur of his hind. "I have a student to train."

Just saying the words made him grin; it was exhilarating.

Silenus's voice crawled from behind him. "I feel so very sorry for whichever wretched newbie you've taken under your wing. They have their fate already set out for them; they'll be returning from a mission in a box."

His hooves pawed at the ground. "Without those so called heroes you wouldn't even be on the council!" Deliberating whether or not to give the pain in the ass a knuckle sandwich Phil sighed and brushed it off his soldiers. "Whatever! I've got grass in places I shouldn't describe…"

And with that he stomped off through the woods.

One of the old satyrs shifted. "Silenus… you should know your place. Philoctettes's authority supersedes even ours."

"He should be a member of this council, not strutting around training demi-gods and chasing after dryads!" Silenus shouted.

The other elders just rolled their eyes and shook their heads as one. The old fool was such a drag; a traditional shoe that had never been polished.

Phil swerved a colourful tree and stretched over a large twisting root, stepping into the clear field in front of the east woodland. From the sounds of battle coming in from all around and the smell of strawberries and pastry, he could tell the camp hadn't changed a bit.

"Ah hem."

He blinked and whipped around.

There stood the pink haired tree nymph from before (he must have just passed her), the one with bedroom eyes. She beckoned to him with a single finger and a giggle. Nymphs liked very much to be pursued.

Philoctettes's ears and tail twitched, delightfully stunned.

The gods, particularly a certain wine drinking one, 'cough' Dionysus 'cough', weren't _completely_ to blame for their various acts of physical relations with half human woodland creatures of myth.

"Uh oh oh!" He chuckled depravedly. His fingers reached out to her playfully as he set off to chase after the flirtatious nymph.

Now _this_ was what he deemed fun.

…**oOo…**

Percy Jackson found himself facing a conundrum.

He had no idea who the girl was in front of him. He hadn't seen her earlier… although he'd been a bit preoccupied with entertaining an enthusiastic group of naiads and Aphrodite's children. Come to think of it he'd never seen her at camp before now; truthfully he'd only been here the previous summer but with his fame of dealing with the Lightning thief he'd shaken hands with most of the settlement.

But he was sure he'd never seen her before; he'd remember _that_ colour hair.

"Did you just do that?" The red head asked as she stared at him in disbelief, water dripping from her clothes and hair, mud sliding down her cheeks…

_Crap_… Trepidation worked its way through his body along with a bit of, well quite a bit of, er, guilt. Annabeth always reprimanded him for being dense but this one he had to admit was right up there with blasting his fifth grade school bus to smithereens with an old war cannon.

Her stare, (nope definitely a glare) wasn't like his friend's Annabeth Chase. The daughter of Athena's grey eyes had a habit of narrowing dangerously and every look made him feel like he was being analysed. With her it would always take many days to solve a dispute but _this_ girl…

Her whole physique challenged him. He couldn't pinpoint where her anger rose from; it was everywhere and she watched him like a hawk, as if the slightest mistake would make her pounce. He almost couldn't meet her eyes…

Except her dripping form left any and all possible marks of intimidation well and truly back where her dignity laid sprawled, dirt ruined on the grass next to the river.

He raised his hands in an effort to placate all the while trying not to smile. "I'm sorry, okay? I…that wasn't supposed to happen." The girl did look ridiculous and she was incredibly tiny. She had to be about five feet in height but it was her thin body that made him think of her as a pixie. Plus with her short hair and the crazy strangeness of her eyes he wouldn't have been surprised if her name was Tinkerbelle. Or even Puck in a sort of cunning disguise.

"It wasn't?" The girl asked with raised brows.

He shook his head. "I didn't see you standing there."

"Yes, you were preoccupied." She said inclining her head towards the group of girls who were watching with gossip eager eyes.

Her tone brought across the notion that she thought he was one of _those_ guys. You know the kind of guys who are jocks and can't keep their head out of their chewed on the inside of his cheek as indignation crawled into his stomach. For a moment there he was actually insulted but he shrugged it off. She was drenched so he had to give her a bit of leeway.

"It wasn't like that. I know those girls."

Her eyes flickered over to them. "By name?"

"W-well, I…"

She groaned. "Thought so. The male libido strikes again…beaten by _hormones_."

Irritated, he scowled. _It was an A.C.C.I.D.E.N.T. What more do I have to say to get that across? _

"Hey, it was an _accident_ alright." He looked her over and when she sniffed as she tried to dry herself further with already wet hands he couldn't stop the involuntary smirk from spreading across his jaw. "Look, it's not like it's a big deal or anything…" The smirk turned into an all out grin that he tried his hardest to quell when his words caused her to tilt her head at him dangerously. The image was spoiled when her wet hair slapped at her and water trickled close to her eyes. Those eyes narrowed and he almost burst out laughing; for some reason it was just incredibly funny. "I mean you'll dry off eventually right?"

He turned to the girls who'd called him over and thought about maybe trying to introduce them. His blunder needed to be repaid. So, he figured she'd glare at him some more then maybe go off to change into some dryer clothes or something…

He started speaking just as his turned to glance back at the red head. "Come on, why don't you-"

Percy Jackson had the honour of having his mouth filled with muddy water. The naiads and other pretty girls all gasped from behind him.

The girl who'd thrown a handful at him raised her brows. When he spat the residue out of his mouth (doing nothing to expel the taste) she shrugged innocently with a slight smile edging on her lips.

"It's just a bit of mud. It'll wash away eventually… right?" _That little…_

He tried to smile leniently but his cheek twitched. "I'm going to let that one slide, but only bec-"

This time a glob full of mud splattered over a single eye. He heard shrieks and footsteps ring out from the circle of girls nearby. For a second he just stood there with his eyes closed as if praying for patience. Then, raising an arm he wiped at his eye with a sleeve and opened his eyes to glare at her.

She already had another load of wet mud to throw at him; she stood there as if any moment now she'd have to run for her life but a single brow was arched as if she were waiting for him to reciprocate.

Well… it would be his pleasure.

Seeing the change in his expression she threw her load and he shifted just in time to avoid it. He moved to gather up some of the earth when, out of the corner of his eye, her lithe form swerved right and kicked at the soggy ground like she was kicking a football. An arc of dirty water slapped across his back, soaking his shirt and making it stick uncomfortably to his skin. He protested loudly and turned towards her as if to whine about her doing to him what he had already done to her, _accidentally _of course. But he snarled when he caught her biting down on her lip to keep from laughing.

She inhaled. "…Your expression is _priceless_."

_Oh… It was _on_._

He brought up his arm and lifted a palm to face outwards towards the lake. She took a step back but when she saw that he was without dirty water arsenal she frowned in confusion only for her face to weave forebodingly when he simply stared meaningfully at her. She peered into his features and he wondered (very briefly) what she saw there before her eyes widened in realisation. Her head whipped round and she cried out just as a small wave of water beat her down into the sludge beneath her.

"Messing with the son of Poseidon while on his turf? Not the wisest thing to do." He muttered as he watched her splutter and drip with fresh water.

She threw him a look which struck him as peculiar; it wasn't a glare.

Pondering this he lowered his arm as the girls (now fluttering around him; how had they gotten _there_?) squealed and clapped like he'd saved Olympus all over again.

Those squeals of enticing pleasure turned swiftly to cries of shock when the red head pushed off from the ground, slipping and sliding as she went and moved at full speed towards him. He only realised this when she was within feet of him having sprinted her way forward. For some reason he didn't move a muscle; he just stood there, intrigued.

It wasn't every day a girl tried to knock you off your feet.

Then said girl's feet pressed off the ground, both of them lifting vertically to wrap around his neck as her body twisted in midair to trounce him face first into the earth.

_Holy crap!_

For a moment pain rang across his face. He groaned and spat out another mouthful of dirt and licked at the metallic taste. His nose was bleeding. He tried to grasp how a puny girl who couldn't have been a day older than him and was certainly much lighter in weight had used her body mass to take him down in such a way. If she'd been an enemy and had access to a weapon he could be dead by now. Glancing up at her he moved onto his side. Her wide eyes stared down at him shell-shocked.

_His_ eyes bored into hers. Then his left leg side sweeped her off her feet and she hit dirt with a thud and a splatter. He always tried to avoid hitting girls but in the interest of remaining fair, if one at the camp challenged him he'd have no problem with hitting back…

…As long as she started it.

He grinned as he came up out of the mud… only to find himself tackled by her.

…**oOo…**

Lucine had genuinely surprised herself.

After being overwhelmed by a single wave of water (_was that even necessary?_) she'd had to admit that Perseus Jackson could indeed be a dangerous foe. A strange notion seeing as how all they were doing was… mud fighting.

…She was mud fighting on her first day at camp, 'let's beat up and terrify all the newbie's', half-blood with the son of Poseidon.

She figured she'd have to pay for that in some way since, as usual, she had a habit of reaping what she sowed.

But her ever present attitude metre hadn't had its fill for the day and as such she'd pretty much decided on making the son of the sea god eat wet earth. Stupid, stupid thing to do.

But she'd done it anyway.

And had shocked herself in the process. She'd done something resembling a wrestling move she'd once seen on television and had landed steadily on her feet at the end of it.

Just as she was processing the sudden show of belligerence her legs were knocked painfully from under her and she fell hard on her behind.

"Oof!"

Alright…yep, she should have expected that. Her calves already throbbed painfully; he was _strong_. _My butt… that's going to bruise._

So she sprung up just as he recovered and tackled him back onto the ground. He'd dropped his guard (in fact she was pretty sure he'd never risen it; probably because of her size, jerk) and so they both went rolling, like entangled idiots, keeping a firm grasp on each others arms in the slippery mud. Seeing as how he was so much better than her at physical defence and, oh, _everything_ else he flipped her off him and rolled so that he was hovering over her. When she lashed out with her hands he caught them swiftly and slammed them on the ground beside her head.

He panted about a foot above her. "Now… are you going to surrender?"

"Not a chance." She said seriously with a frown as if to say _'are you crazy?'_

"I have you pinned." He said rather matter-of-factly.

"Yes… that is true." She tried to shrug and act calm. "But I've been pinned before." _When, Lucine, when have you **ever** been pinned by a guy?_

He cocked a brow as if genuinely interested. "And how did you get out of that?"

_Think fast!_ "Like this."

On instinct she kneed him in the groin._ Oops..._

Immediately he grunted. His face switched from blazing red to ghostly white and his brow scrunched up in discomfort. "…_Ow_." He wheezed, almost inaudibly. Amazingly he didn't release her even though she knew that must have hurt terribly. She flinched at the thought, grimaced and pushed upwards to get him to roll away from her.

"Sorry." She whispered culpably.

He inhaled shallowly from where he lay curled up. "_Apologise to my_ _nuts_!"

Her face scrunched up. "_Really_ sorry."

When she tried to move herself she was surprised at how much energy it took and realised that trying to wrestle with him so close to the waters edge was indeed so very stupid. When she finally got her bearings Lucine rose up on her knees.

Blinking, she realised they had an audience.

The gorgeous girls from earlier were there of course staring at her like they couldn't understand what they seeing (if a girl was covered in that much mud was she in fact still a female? Oh, I broke a nail!), muttering useless comments amongst themselves but there were others standing there too. A few of them were guys; armour clad and carrying very intimidating pieces of weaponry. They were smirking and nudging each other as they watched. There was a couple of hard looking girls too, one with stringy brown hair who looked like the boss of the trio and could easily whip Lucine's arse into kingdom bloody come. She was assessing the situation appraisingly and sneering down at Percy Jackson as if she very much liked the idea of him on his knees.

The last guy who stood out most in the gathering throng was another satyr with a wispy chin. He looked absolutely capsized at the sight in front of him. He blinked bewilderedly but by the twitch of his lips and the shine in his eyes it was very clear he was trying hard to keep from laughing.

Then all of a sudden arms wrapped around her from behind and she was slammed sideways back into the dirt.

"Hah!" The guy's voice sounded out in her ear and she had to wonder at his recovery rate; she'd kneed his as hard as she could from her uncomfortable position on the ground.

Beyond annoyed and somewhat panicked she tried to push back against him but he was too strong and the ground was too slippery. She tried to angle her elbow backwards to slam into him but he turned the situation around completely. "None of that." He muttered in her ear and pulled on her arm and the limb, along with the rest of her, was forced uncomfortably backwards. "Oh… Jesus… Christ!" She managed to gasp out as her body was stretched uncomfortably so that he had her arm in a lock between his biceps and chest.

"Yield!" He shouted and suprisingly playfully at that.

The more he reacted to her movements the more water seemed to gather around her so, unfortunately, as he was pressing her into the dirt her nose and mouth we're forced into the water. Alarmed she tried to push back again but he couldn't see what the problem was and forced her back down into the water. The crowd started shouting and it was only when her frame began to jerk that she heard him gasp something and his hands released her.

Her head wrenched up out of the water and she coughed and breathed in choking fits. On all fours she drank in the fresh mid-morning air. Her heavy breathing crossed airs with another's breath and she felt more than anything the presence of Perseus Jackson kneeling next to her. She peered up at him over her shoulder and looked him; his body curved over her as if shielding her from everyone else and she watched as his eyebrows furrowed and his eyes turned fluidic with shame. The rest of his face tightened. No… she didn't want that. Not off him.

So she raised brows her brows and grinned at him, incredulous. What a mud fight.

When he blinked and opened his mouth to what she knew was going to be an apology she gathered up some more of the dirty water in her grasp and plastered it across his jaw.

His head turned slightly away as laughter broke out around them. He ground his teeth and opened his eyes to glare askance at her.

"Stop trying to apologise. It's disrespectful." She muttered with narrowed eyes, leaning back on her shins.

He stared at her stonily before leaning left to spit mud on the ground. "Why would I even apologise?" He said passively.

"You were just about to."

He arched a brow at her. "Oh, I was?"

"Yes. For almost drowning me in a puddle of mucky water you were going to apologise."

"Really? Interesting." His thoughtful tone suggested that it really were interesting. "Well, you're not getting one now."

"Thank god for that."

"You're welcome."

"Great!" She stood up with a satisfied nod, almost bouncing on her toes and she held out a hand for him to grab.

He stared at the limb and then back at her. "…Who _are_ you?"

Lucine blinked. "Lucine-Maximus Sullivan." She said as if that should have been obvious.

He frowned up at her. "Uh-huh. That tells me jack."

"Who's Jack?"

"Er, he's... I… it was just and expression-"

"I was kidding."

He chewed on the inside of his cheek. Lucine swallowed down her grin.

He stood up so fast she almost slipped on her butt again. She dropped her offered hand and looked at everyone but him as he scowled down at her. Unfortunately she couldn't get a read on him since she didn't know him from Adam. Jack meet Adam; another archaic expression of meaningless diatribe.

"Hey, what's going on around… here…?"

A girl had pushed through the line of onlookers. From Lucine's perspective she was more than just pretty; she was Warrior Princess pretty, with California blond hair and had deduced from the careful look in her grey eyes that this one would be hard to fool on any occasion. Though her features screamed attractive (in a way that you wouldn't expect _her_ to pick up a sword and shield) she possessed an athletic form that Lucine barely managed not to groan in misery about. _Was every girl at this camp armed to the nines with assets?_

The girl looked from Lucine to Percy in confusion and by the way she looked at him with those grey eyes it was obvious they knew each other. _Of course they would. Warrior Princess meets Warrior Hero. With my luck she'll probably join in to throw mud at me too._

However, she didn't appear to have that same quality other girls Lucine had come across seemed to possess in spades; the one where they look down their noses at you and are automatically labelled as the superior of your sex.

The girl frowned at him. "Percy, what happened?" Her tone suggested immediately that she thought that whatever had happened had been all his fault.

The guy sighed. "Don't ask. But…" he pointed at Lucine with his right index finger as he looked at the blond girl. "…It was all her fault."

Eyes snapping wide open Lucine smirked dangerously at him. "_Excuse_ me?"

"Who threw the first mud pie?"

"That would be me, yes but-"

He grinned and folded his arms in success. "Well then there you go."

Lucien resisted the juvenile urge to stomp one foot down. "_After_ you _soaked_ me through because you were too _bloody_ busy flirting with a bunch of Naiads to even notice the red head standing oh, _ten_ metres away from you!" His mouth opened and closed like a fish as he _fished_ (pardon the pun) for a decent retort.

"Flirting huh?"

The unimpressed voice of the blond haired girl rang out again and Lucine caught Percy grimacing. '_Thanks a lot'_, he mouthed to Lucine who just shrugged. _'You're welcome'._

Blondie arched a brow then and stared at Lucine silently asking for an explanation. _Right, not going to happen, that never ends well for me… _She'd learned long ago to keep quiet in situations like this because she was always blamed for them.

"Yeah… bye-bye!" Taking this as her cue to make it like Michael and _beat it_ Lucine tottered off the muddy grass. An opening miraculously appeared in the circle of onlookers who didn't want to get smeared; many were dispersing already anyway.

She heard Percy exclaim behind her. "Hey, where are you going? You can't just leave!"

Lucine turned her head to look over her retreating shoulder and gave him a 'are you freaking kidding me' stare. "I'm getting out of the line of fire!"

He looked at her like she was the Easter Bunny. "WHAT LINE OF…oh, hey Annabeth." He scratched the back of his neck as the blond girl now in front of him crossed her arms over her chest still wearing the arched brow.

…oOo…

Her shoes squelched noisily as she walked towards a row of buildings in the middle of the camp.

She smiled like an idiot to the various teenagers who passed her on the way, giving her looks of bemusement but in general looking like it was no surprise to find a fellow camper covered in muck and soaking wet. Lucine didn't feel miserable or any of the normal emotional symptoms that one would normally feel after being publicly humiliated; in fact she felt… alive. No matter how annoying _Percy_ Jackson had been with her the whole mud fight thing made her feel as if she'd passed some sort of camp initiation.

Even though she'd lost she felt like she'd passed.

Still… she shook her head and laughed at herself. Then she lifted the neck of her shirt up to her nose and sniffed before cringing. She reeked. Great.

Looking around her at what she thought was a single row of cabins was actually a U-shape group of them; all various shapes, sizes and colours. One of them was pink. _Pink_. Bright pink with lacy window curtains and other pretty little things. _Ugh, it's Barbie Dream House. So where's Barbie? _

Just as the thought passed her a girl exited a cabin about midway on the left. She had long, glossy brown hair tied up into an elegant knot at the back of her head where the rest hung down, her face was perfectly symmetrical and with _that_ figure she looked to be about two years older. _…Oh, there she is. Now I just need to find Ken and…_

…Another teenager, one with lots of muscle approached Barbie from behind and pinched her hips. She squealed and turned around to laugh with him. _Well I'll be, there's Ken._

_I really shouldn't be so cynical_. Feeling a little bad for the thought Lucine walked up to the stone lined fire pit that stood directly in the middle of the field. Steps led up to the hearth and on a whim Lucine jogged up them figuring she could dry herself somewhat before begging Chiron for another shirt.

She parked herself on the warm stone plinth and attempted to wipe her muddy fingers on her drenched pants. It wasn't easy to ignore the dirt caked on… all over her body actually. Sighing, she was about to lie flat on her back but as she turned her head she caught a glimpse of a girl through the flames around the other side of the plinth. A child. Pausing with intrigue and with a blink of her eyes Lucine scooted on her bottom around the stone platform until she could look at the girl without interference. The girl peered back at her; she couldn't have been any more than about ten years old.

"Hello." The girl said with a slight smile. The amusement in her eyes was probably due to Lucine almost having fallen completely off the plinth in her enthusiasm to satiate her curiosity. The red head braced herself with a foot on one of the steps.

"…I'm usually more graceful than this."

Again the child simply smiled. She stoked the coals of the fire and the flames reflected warmly off her eyes. Lucine watched her for a moment.

"I'm Lucine." She said. "You're pretty young compared to most of the camp."

"There have been younger." The girl informed her.

Lucine raised her brows. "Really? How old are you?"

The child seemed to find this comment endearing to Lucine's bafflement. It wasn't until the girl reached a small hand into the fire to grasp a piece of scorching charcoal that she answered the question. "Many 1000's of years. Time seems to pass me in a breeze of short moments that span centuries. But when I gaze into the hearth I see the warmth of each passing epoch staring at me through the faces of all who've been and gone. I am ancient." She placed the piece of coal back into the fire; her hands were completely without injury.

Sometime during the first sentence between the words '1000's of years' and 'span the centuries', Lucine's jaw dropped open.

It was barely 11am and she was sitting next to a goddess.

"Hestia?" She queried uncertainly. "Goddess of the hearth?"

The girl's eyes flashed kindly towards her and for a moment they glowed red like the flare from the fire before her. That was all the answer Lucine needed… and was absolutely floored by it. For the past several weeks, long before her final confrontation with her high school nightmare Stevie, she'd hoped and prayed to live under the teachings of the gods; to be apart of the world that held the only living connection to her father, other than herself of course. To live like the other demi-gods. And here was her first sign; the Goddess Hestia herself.

Lucine stared at the girl. "I thought you'd be a little… taller."

_Way to go Lucine, prepare to be deep fried._

But the goddess simply smiled again. "It's my preferred form. Apollo would say that it's a…" She held up a hand for quotation marks. "…'Deeply personal and philosophical decision'." The girl actually rolled her eyes. "For him however it's usually just a matter of his vanity."

"…Cool."

Hestia nodded as if in agreement. Taking to a goddess wasn't as difficult as she thought it would be. Or maybe Hestia, the most grounded of all the gods understood most the true civility and understanding behind humanity.

"Hey Luce!"

The sudden shout caused Lucine to jump. She turned to see her new (in all of her hopes) trainer limping towards the fire pit from behind her.

She smiled. "Phil! Where've you been?" She called out.

Trudging forward with the perma-frown on his face he growled. "Some old satyrs have it in for me. Not that they can do squat." He muttered, his New York accent coming through loud and clear. Then he gestured his face towards her questioningly. "I heard you got into a scrap with the son of Poseidon."

She scratched the back of her head sheepishly. "Boy, news really gets around fast here at camp doesn't it?" Glancing back at Hestia she gave her an awkward kind of head bob that was supposed to be a respectful bow from her place on the plinth. Nevertheless the goddess nodded back in thanks. Lucine pushed upwards already morning the warmth of the plinth and started down the stone steps, talking to Phil as she went. "I did but it was more of a mud fight."

As she'd spoke the satyr had raised a single finger signalling that a point was about to be made but then dropped it as if he was completely thrown by her admission. "A mud fight?" He repeated.

"Yes."

"Between you and the son of 70% of the earth's surface?" He gestured from her to god knows where with his arms circling in wide motions.

"That would be correct."

"Just to be clear this was a real mud fight right? Not a clash between swords or a test of strength or anything? Of all things you choose to fight with it and it was mud?"

When he said it like that it made the whole thing sound kind of… ridiculous. "I'm afraid so."

He twitched. Then…

"EVERYTHING happens when I'm not around! Ah, kid!" Veins throbbed and he seemed to have some kind of a fit as his arms twisted and stretched in aggravation.

She blinked. "Er, I'm sorry?"

After a moment of contortion he waved a hand delicately up and down dismissively. "Ah, whatever." Then he smirked and wiggled his eyebrows suggestively. "I got to chase a little _root_ earlier. These dryads are really flirtatious." He rubbed his hands together joyfully and Lucine could only assume that 'root' was a wild life expression of 'tail'. But then his face darkened and he pointed towards the woods to her left. "With the way Silenus is acting up I wouldn't be surprised if he cautioned all his fellows to _abstain_ from such pursuits. It's no wonder all the nymphs are so feisty. They aren't getting an- ah, nothing no, er… Well, it's a duty I'm happy to attend to, he, he!" He combed a hand smugly through non-existant hair and straightened up, pulling on an imaginary tailored suit.

Lucine peered down at the robust little creature. "Uh huh." She shook her head.

After a moment more of day dreaming he snapped out of it. "Oh yeah! Luce?" He clicked his fingers and looked up at her. "Chiron wants us back up at the main house."

_Oh boy…_


	5. Chapter 5

**Hi! Long time no see. I'd very much like to apologise to anybody who may have been waiting along time for this chapter but let's just say that my life went slowly down hill these past seven or so months and I'm just treading the surface of clear waters again, if you know what I mean. **

**I've trying to get back on what I refer to as my writers bench but I was so focused on my other story (The Other One: chapter 10, 30 pages in and only half way through… yikes) that I forgot about this one. However a reviewer recently PM'd me simply to ask for another chapter and it was so endearing I forced my scatter brained self to work.**

**So… thank you Alaijah, for making me remember why I started this story in the first place. This one's for you.**

**(Oh, if it's a little different to my usual writing please put up with it for a while. I'm only just getting back into the rhythm."**

Disclaimer: I own nothing… except Lucine.

Chapter 5:

"**Getting to Know you…"**

"What's _she_ doing here?"

That's what Lucine received the moment she entered the Big House. Welcoming huh? She pursed her lips and nodded to herself. _Well, screw you too buddy._

She supposed it was to be expected: guys didn't usually appreciate their peers, especially the female ones, making them look like idiots.

And it made her feel just… peachy. Thanks for asking.

Well… it really _did_ actually. She'd given as much as she'd received. Unfortunately crossing swords so to speak with the son of Poseidon wasn't necessarily the sanest of actions.

He didn't look happy to see her that's for sure; the boy could really scowl.

She smiled indifferently, simply to piss him off. It worked liked a charm.

Chiron now seated in the corner (yes seated: in a wheel chair… _HOW? Or more appropriately, why?_), rolled his wheels forwards as if physically sensing the decent in temperament of his favourite demi-god. "Lucine-Maximus." It was like an announcement or something. "Good of you to arrive on such short notice my dear."

Lucine scratched the back of her neck sheepishly. "Yeah, sorry I was taking to Hestia."

That seemed to throw the ancient teacher for a moment; his shaggy beard twitched and he open and closed his mouth. The great _Perseus _dropped the scowl to frown, momentarily diverted and looking inquisitively at the tall blonde girl standing beside him. Said girl just watched Lucine like a hawk… which didn't feel like a good thing _at_ _all_.

Phil just picked at his front teeth.

"Yes, right er…" Chiron seemed to collect himself. "Percy, Annabeth, meet the newest edition here at Half Blood Hill."

Being who she was and nobody else Lucine simply rolled her shoulders and bobbed her head at the two aforementioned teens. "Hey."

"Hello." Annabeth replied courteously.

Percy mumbled something that sounded very much like 'whatever' but didn't say anything else earning a reproachful look from Chiron.

"Percy?" His brow crinkled in grandfatherly concern.

Seeing this and feeling bad for making the centaur worry after he'd been so hospitable to her Lucine waved a dismissive hand in the boy's direction. "Ah, ignore him; he's just being a grumpy puss."

Percy quickly dropped his puckered sulk to glare at the red head. "Excuse me?"

"Dirty water tastes like crap." She sniffed the air. "And we both reek."

"Yeah? And whose fault's that?"

She arched a brow. "I'm pretty sure it's yours."

"You started it!"

"No, _you_ started it! _And_ you finished it! I don't see what you have to complain about!" _Big idiot._

She was right. He'd thrown the first and last metaphorical punch. She'd lost before she'd even begun.

_Story of my life._

He didn't seem to know quite what to say in reply. _Typical. _She rolled her eyes.

Chiron blinked, looking to each teen. "I seem to be missing something here…"

"They got into a mud fight, not a clash of swords." Phil muttered; simultaneously unimpressed and disappointed which went completely against his outraged indignation at having missed such a sight just minutes earlier.

Thinking about it Lucine figured that if he'd have been there Philoctettes would have been found eating popcorn and taking wagers. _Against me._

Chiron deliberated on this for a moment. "So in the space of time I left you alone Lucine, and the ten minutes or so after I spoke to you Percy, you _both_ managed to engage in combat?"

Both teens feeling the reprimand coming a mile away gave stiff, stubborn nods in his direction. Surprisingly enough the kind teacher simply passed a look towards Phil.

The satyr smirked. "That's gotta be a record, right."

"Indeed." A sigh. Then he looked towards her as he gestured towards Percy. "Lucine, I wanted to introduce the two of you personally but it seems fate makes fools of us all."

Lucine wasn't quite sure she agreed with that assessment. _I highly doubt that 'Fate' orchestrated the lamest fight in history, even if it was just for kicks. _

Sighing she figured she should just get on with it already. "So you're Percy Jackson?" Lucine queried in an intrigued tone, as if she didn't already know. He stiffened; his arms a tight restraint across his chest as if he knew she was about to pull him to pieces. "You mean like, Thomas the Tank Engine's best friend?"

He clenched his jaw. "_No_. I mean like Perseus-"

"-Perseus, son of Zeus, the hero who married Queen Andromeda, saviour of Thessaly, Gorgon slayer, Kraken silencer, died by Dionysus's hand: the God of sex, drugs and rock and roll etc, yes I know."

Chiron arched a brow.

"Not bad kid." Said the satyr appreciatively, a mega-fan of sass.

"But we all knew that." Voiced Percy in confusion as his girl-friend remained strangely still as she quietly observed the scene.

Chiron worked his fingers into a steeple, his elbows resting on his covered knees. "Actually Percy, you'd be surprised by the rather large gaps in the knowledge that most demi-gods possess before they arrive here at camp. They have to be taught as I made sure you were."

Lucine smiled, ignoring the chagrined and somewhat annoyed dark haired boy in front of her and looked down towards Phil. "Did the history books get that one right?"

Scratching his rough chin he nodded. "Mostly. Oh yeah. Yeah. Sweet times."

She nodded a little fascinated but instead turned back to focus on Percy. "Isn't that a little… pretentious?" She said, continuing from where she left off with a quirked brow.

"What do you mean? I-"

Onto something she raised a finger to silence him. "But then again I did hear that you don't even _like_ your full name which is why everyone calls you 'Percy'. You think '_Perseus'_ sounds ostentatious too." She gave a little head bob as if to say 'that makes sense'.

He frowned, wondering where she was going with this. "True, but-"

"And yet you were just about to use it to knock me down on my verbal ass." Lucine, so small in stature and yet she stood in front of Perseus Jackson with such unmovable conviction and interest that the rest of the inhabitants of the cabin didn't notice the difference.

"Hey! I-"

She butted in, smirking. "You know the only thing I like about you right now is your affinity for water. You couldn't possibly be as rigid as you are with a power _that_ cool."

There was a small pause.

"From now on let's restrict any future conversations to hello and goodbye." Percy offered, irritated, grinding his teeth and looking down at her as if she were the spawn of Satan.

Thinking his reaction was a little much Lucine couldn't help but a blink up at him a few times. But then again she did have a way with making people just… not… like her.

_Have it your way. _She shrugged and smiled at him knowing it would further exacerbate his irritation. "Gladly Water Boy."

He jerked. "_Water Boy_?"

…And there; she was finished with her come back from having her face dragged literally through muddy water. Phil sniggered and Lucine swore she saw the blond haired girl, Annabeth who now stood against the wall next to Chiron, hide her mouth behind a hand.

The centaur cleared his throat looking askance.

Percy glowered.

Lucine shoved a hand through her short hair. "You know, like Happy Gilmore."

The livid glower melted off Percy's face. "Huh?"

"Adam Sandler?" She elaborated.

"Nu-uh."

"The longest yard?"

"Sorry?"

"Oh… never mind."

**...oOo…**

Chiron kindly gave Lucine a change of clothes: a replacement camp shirt and a pair of faded but well fitted blue jeans that she felt pretty positive about… until she was told they once belonged to a boy. Two years younger than herself. _Wow, way knock down my already low self-esteem there. Just…Fantabulous. _She'd always deluded herself into believing that she was a 'solid' 5 "2" but in actual fact she barely reached over 5 "1". That tiny step over the inch line gave her great pains as it hadn't moved a bloody inch. Not in several months. It was a sore spot for her. And for once, being skinny wasn't fashion forwards. It was simply a hindrance.

She found that the centaur trainer was seemingly very understanding and accepting of how quickly his students tended to need quick fixes around the camp. She'd even showered as the great Perseus Jackson had stomped off towards his own inhabitant free cabin to do the same.

Annabeth had disappeared to perform some camp duty or other or so Chiron had informed her when Lucine had turned to find both heroes had simultaneously disappeared. Apparently Annabeth Chase, despite being only fifteen was one of the senior campers who took charge over specific camping events. Percy simply tagged along with her.

Lucine pondered this for a full three seconds before dragging the clean shirt over her head.

_Couldn't possibly be for the fun of it. He probably likes her._

Not that she'd ever tried her hand at precision reading the emotional dispositions of those around her but she found that Percy Jackson was very easy for her to deduce. At least when he was aggravated anyway, a response she seemed amazing apt at inducing. However Lucine found herself unable to even glimpse at the thoughts, intentions and machinations of Annabeth Chase. The girl had left her with the impression of a historian. A person perched at the edge of a scene; quietly observing but ultimately revealing nothing and quite possibly… judging her.

As if she were on inspection, except Lucine believed the act to be one completely free overall of any possible malice. Annabeth was simply a calm, careful and watchful kind of person.

Making her way down the stairs she immediately met with an impatient Phil who was leaning not so casually against the wall, close to the front door leading to the rather large porch. His tiny tail beat cantankerously against where he'd settled against, his arms were tightly folded, he was chewing on the inside of his cheek and for a satyr barely reaching three feet it was surprising how, for such a small person, his presence alone took up about as much larger surface area as the vestibule.

His eyes flickered to her as she descended the final step and he huffed. "_Finally_! Get a move on; I want to show you around the place." He gestured a hand for her to follow. "Come on kid. Daylight's wasting here!"

She came to a pause just south of the open door, frowning and raising a dead-pan hand in point. "Erm, it's just after twelve Phil."

"Time waits for no man! Or woman, heh, in your case _girl_." Stepping into sunlight his hooves clipped across the wooden beams outside. "You want me to make a hero out of you or what?!"

Needless to say she hustled pretty damn fast. And inside she squealed excitedly like the idiotic little fan-girl she was turning into. _He's going to train me!_

All thoughts of mud fights and perceptive grey eyes departed her mind in a flood of euphoria.

_Until_, that is, when he shouted up at her again from beyond the Big House front steps, arms twisting in aggravation and looking about as tall and imposing as a toddler. "Move it already!"

_I can practically see the fume billowing out of his ears. _She sighed. "Didn't you know patience is a virtue?"

"It is, but then it met you."

She rolled her eyes and followed him anyway; trying not to grin when he twitched at how quickly she caught up to him; in less than two seconds in fact.

They started their stroll equipped with a running dialogue provided voluntarily, even readily, by Philoctettes to which she gave rapt attention to. He pointed certain things out to her that she hadn't noticed before. In fact she figured it would have taken her several weeks at the camp before she did.

"Around back of that old utilities building you'll find the best blacksmith posting. Gotta get you a weapon. A son of Hephaestus is probably already working there… north of the canoe trail; you'll be training there, working on body strength. Can't wield a sword or throw a javelin without knowing how to distribute your strength. Oh and over there…" He pointed upwards east; a small podgy digit brushing over the landscape beyond the cabins. "…Back of there's an exercise track. I got Chiron to help build it decades ago. It's on its own so if you want some serious instruction on how to be a hero it's the perfect place."

She nodded eagerly, taking it in and soaking up the knowledge that though he hadn't openly admitted using the appropriate words that he would in fact train her, he was taking this seriously. And she was incredibly grateful, overjoyed, excited, and nervous as hell, genuinely petrified, heck yes…

They both moved past the field lines; the delicious smell of strawberries wafting in through the pleasant breeze was incredibly soothing. "You see that satyr over there?" Phil asked out of the blue.

Lucine blinked, shifting and searching the area until she found the aforementioned wild creature about a dozen metres to her left. "The one playing the reed pipes?"

"Yeah. If there's anything you need and can't get from camp, _that_ _one_ can definitely help you. He's a nice guy but _damn_ if he's sly." Phil shook his head, smiling self-indulgently at some memory or other and Lucine watched him quietly, intrigued.

And then the reed player called out to them. "Philoctettes! You telling tales about me again?" His tone was enjoyable and lively but she was surprised to find that he, like Phil, also possessed a New Yorker accent. The smile on his mug stretched to a grin when he glanced her way, as if he were letting her in on a secret. "Don't listen to him. Half of them are fallacious."

Phil snorted, still smiling. "Which means half of them are true Nino."

_Nino? _Lucine blinked in bemusement. _Sounds Italian. Like he's a member of the mafia or something. With a New Yorker accent. Pretty misleading._

"You playing poker with the guys later, Phil?" Nino continued and Lucine took a mental step back.

_Poker? Seriously?! _She gave herself an internal eye roll. _Should have known, I guess. It is Phil after all, master of all things obvious._

She turned to look down at her right, finding Phil giving her a searching look. Finally he shook his head at his buddy. "Nah, I gotta take the green horn here for a test run. Might take a while."

With some measure of relief Lucine noticed how he didn't look remotely harassed or reluctant at the idea. In fact he seemed… settled. As if he was content or something.

Nino nodded in apparent understanding; if he knew Philoctettes well enough he probably completely understood the implications of what a 'test run' really was. But it didn't pose well for Lucine, not as anything one might term a 'fun' thing that is. "Well if you change your mind…"

Phil nodded, waving an absentminded hand both as a 'see you later' kind of thing and an amiable dismissal. "I'll know where to find you."

Teacher and hopeful student moved onwards and Nino continued playing his pipes. If she could describe the music streaming out from the instrument she'd say it was a 'fruity' kind of spell.

Unable to keep her mouth shut any longer she moved to query Phil when they were safely beyond the strawberry field. "Poker night?"

"Secret guy stuff." He responded gruffly without looking at her.

"Oh, come _on_ Phil!" She almost whined, _almost_, because she would _never_ deign to do what she'd witnessed the majority of girls at school accomplish with their tone deaf bellyaching. That is, making themselves unutterably intolerable to those around them.

He chuckled but kept his mouth closed in an attempt to stem it in a muffled sort of choke before giving up entirely. "Alright, alright." He pressed his lips together for a moment, thinking about how to best describe to her what poker night truly pertained to.

"Think… _money_. Lots of it. Gorgeous tree nymphs, Olympus' Best 70 proof Bacchus Wine sponsored and endorsed by the Muses themselves, and… _some_ nudity. With videos. And various nefarious, clandestine, mixed gender _games_. And instruction manuals." Finished, he quirked an amused, self-satisfied brow at the expression of shell shock on Lucine's face. "Does that answer your question?"

"Ah, er… ahem, uh-huh."

Not expecting to stumble across the entire scope of _this_ x-rated, fantasy fuelled, 'guy night' soiree particulars she decided to eat humble pie and leave well enough alone. At least until she experienced some of her _own_ 18+ uncut episodes of insanity. She was more impressed that he'd used the word 'nefarious'.

Their route took them far past the currently empty amphitheatre (during which Phil rubbed his hands together with what Lucine swore was a disturbing amount of glee in his eyes) where open terrain led into heavy bush areas and onwards. She was surprised at how large the forest area really was. The trees were thick and close together, tall enough to probably block out the sun if you were to go inside. It took up about a quarter of the valley and looked (if you peered through the trunks and squinted your eyes) about as dark inside in the day as it would at night. At _night_ it would probably look like a chunk of pure darkness.

_Super creepy. With extra creepy whipped topping._

Phil noticed her stare and nodded carelessly "Yeah, we'll be training in there too." _Supercalifragilisticexpialidocious._ She decided to simply nod. "It isn't as dark inside as it appears out here but the trees are pretty close. Forces you into close quarters combat. Helps you focus and increases dexterity. You can only rely on your senses. Usually Chiron purchases a couple of Grecian monsters to roam the area for his monthly tests." He shrugged; his hands coming up beside each side of his head, upturned into a sort of weighing scale image suggesting he wasn't totally believing of what he was about to say. "Supposedly only the '_toughest_'," Cue condescending quotation marks as his face pulled into a lofty but extremely sceptical scowl. "Or the '_best of the best_' take part in it. Heh. Best of the best. If there's anyone here that _I_ could rank _best of the best_, I've got a fur wedge."

Trying to rid her poor brain of _that_ gross image for a moment Lucine frowned. "You don't think there are any capable heroes in camp Phil?"

The satyr rubbed the back of his neck with his left hand. "Aye…" He looked at her, his expression as moody and as irritable as before but this time it held beneath it a subtle trace of unease. "As a team there are probably a few who could work well enough together to a decent threat. But none of them, not one, could take down a hell hound by themselves."

She realised then that it wasn't unease exactly that he felt. It was _concern_. Concern over the welfare of the other campers.

She blinked._ Wait, did he just…_ small, traitorous shot of pride sped through her chest when she realised his unintentional compliment, even though she'd promised herself to never become a conceited type of person. But Lucine had never imagined a time where someone such as Phil, someone who was so ancient, so experienced, who'd seen what the world had to offer and had instead chosen to spend his days in confinement at a brothel, who'd trained the most wondrous and legendary of heroes, who'd known and respected her father, who was in cahoots with Chiron the legend could ever possibly consider _her_, a skinny little nobody with no home, no parents and no prospects, with any kind of consideration.

The smile she gave him was tremulous and full of gratitude.

He actually blushed when he saw it; his short fur fluffed out and stood on end as he gave himself a not so subtle shake. Like a swift subconscious kick to the head, only less violent.

"Hmph! Don't go feeling special or anything! You're barely _this_ much better than everybody else." The index finger and thumb of his right hand came together until they were about half a centimetre apart from each other. He dropped the limb and, with a sniff, trotted off away from her and her smile grew into a fond grin.

Practically glowing on the inside she caught up with him, looking at him side on once she stepped in line with his short stride. His blush wasn't receding. She cleared her throat. "So, you don't think Chiron is training them well enough?" The question posed was a tentative one; there was no insult behind it but she was confused as to Phil's claim.

He didn't take it as one. "Chiron's doing what he's supposed to be doing. The problem is that it might not be enough… _if_ things are going to go the way he thinks they are."

"What do you mean?"

"Never you mind." He stated gruffly and by the tone of his voice she knew better not to argue about it.

Slowly, as he walked forwards, Phil's eyes took on an out of focus, pensive gaze. She watched as he cupped his chin, finger scratching absently at the ever present gruff there. His other hand grasped his elbow, keeping it steady: a practically honed habit. "Now that I think about it we should probably visit the armoury later." His eyes suddenly sharpened once more as they flickered over her lithe form. "You're kind of tiny. Probably a size five or six."

She quirked a brow. _Armoury? Cool. _"I'll get my own armour?"

Effortlessly his expression switched from neutral-pensive to patronising and disbelieving. "Are you kidding? It's standard issue fanfare for all new demi-gods! I mean, do you wanna get killed during basic _training_! And when I say basic, I _mean_ basic. Well, that'd be a _great_ way to go, during _training_. At camp. Probably the biggest embarrassment of all time. For _you_, I'm magic as is."

"This coming from the guy who whimpered in cowardly fear at the sight of those dragon women back at your store?" She queried acerbically.

"Hey, I'm a lover, not a fighter." He brushed none existent dirt off one arm and pointed at her with a finger from the other, squaring her a look of complete seriousness. "You're training under _me_ now. My. Personal. Protégé. No half-assin' it Luce. It's all or nothing, so if I say you need a whole new wardrobe, then it means you're getting a whole new wardrobe. Capiche?"

His words were blunt but for some reason, to Lucine, they sounded so very comforting.

"I understand." She said with absolute respect and a soft smile.

Probably feeling like he'd somehow lost his second wind, with no adequate reason to keep it going he huffed before grumbling to himself. "You're _definitely_ gonna need new threads. The training will ruin any of the clothes you have with you."

The right side of her mouth hitched up and she tilted her head sideways. "Nino, right?"

"You got it."

…**oOo…**

Eventually she and Phil seemed to gravitate towards the open Archery field. They could here the thuds of arrows hitting their targets as they approached and caught sight of a familiar blonde standing off towards the side of the range.

Annabeth was talking with Chiron who was in full centaur regalia: no clothes in sight but he was leaning his arms on a strong bow that was probably his own given how large it was. There were maybe three other students near to them, two of which were already taking aim at some very battered looking training dolls some twenty feet away from them.

Lucine sort of felt sorry for the inanimate effigies.

The area was rather large and wide open, enough to house a full platoon. Lining the back of the range was, of course, more trees and the grass was a mixture of rich green and hay yellow.

Once they were both in hearing distance Lucine watched as Annabeth gestured towards them, bringing them to Chiron's attention. His shaggy mane swished backwards and forwards around his head and he broke out into a wide smile. "Ah! There you both are."

Phil's ritual expression for casual greetings was in full effect; meaning he was half-scowling, half-smirking to his heart's content. "You were looking for us?"

"More like 'waiting' my old friend. I had a hunch that you would eventually reveal to Lucine-Maximus the various aspects of Greek warfare, and sooner rather later. With her penchant for the Bow and Arrow I considered this would be the first place you'd try."

For a moment Lucine stood stock still, eyes flickering to and fro from the centaur back to the satyr. _Penchant for bow and arrows? What did Phil tell Chiron exactly that I didn't?_

She was slightly confused as to the hype. _I mean, it was only one Queen Cobra. Not a huge deal… right?_ She exhaled. _I wish he wouldn't call me-_

"Lucine-Maximus?"

Jolted, Lucine whipped her head around, finding herself within a few feet from Annabeth Chase who'd wandered over during her pensive probe. The two trainers of old were talking together, off to one side, seemingly in deep discussion about something the two girls couldn't hope to hear.

_Why, oh why did it have to be Blonde? _

It wasn't that she didn't like the girl. Lucine didn't know her from the antiquated Adam. However the curly haired teen gave off an air of composure; as if she were at one with herself in a way most youths weren't and understood within her soul her fallacies and flaws; human attributes Lucine was too frightened to explore quite yet. It left her feeling immature and awkward as hell.

Of course there was a good chance that Annabeth's careful countenance was also a symptom of her own inability to face certain realities that might be worrisome to her grey eyes. It _could_ also be the result of years of study, or even simply a genetic trait passed down from her scarily smart mother: the Greek Goddess of Wisdom, Strategy and Tactics.

Add to this that she was uncommonly lovely with her flowing locks of hair, her athletic, almost womanly form and striking eyes (striking in the 'thou shall strike me down where I stand' kind of way), about five inches taller than herself and Lucine was pretty much intimidated as hell.

It was the comparison that she disliked, not the girl. The evaluation made by Lucine's own insecurity; her own uncertainty turned detractor. Just by sight alone, to Lucine's eyes, Annabeth was everything she wasn't and probably never would be.

_Which means she's probably completely incredible all around: as a warrior, a girl, a teenager, or just a person in general. Outstanding._

Still… it also made Lucine want to know what Annabeth obviously drank to become so awesome in the first place. Thus, she immediately set about to becoming her friend. She had a feeling she wasn't the first to feel utterly worthless in the daughter of Athena's presence. It wasn't the girl's fault that she inspired feelings of inconsequentiality in the fairer sex and the more Lucine thought about it the more she respected said girl.

…Because Annabeth probably didn't have any friends outside of camp.

Three seconds was all it took for Lucine to decide all of this. She had promised her wonderful father that she would never again fall to the feeling of inadequacy brought about by the ignorance of others. It would be due to her own foolishness to allow such ridiculous reflections to prevent her from becoming well acquainted with a girl who could possibly teach her a great many things, who could maybe befriend and understand her more than most. In the absence of family, Lucine needed to make a new one, a new home…

_Dad…_

She cleared her throat before a genuine smile found its way across her lips. "Yeah. That's my forename. Hyphenated. Just one word really."

Annabeth almost laughed, head tilted to the side as her hair fell flawlessly about her shoulders. "Bit of a mouthful."

"Trust me; you don't know the half of it."

"You've got me interested."

"Let's just say that at certain schools it's analogous to crucifixion." She shrugged. "Call me whatever you want. There's a whole ream of names in there."

"If you'd like." Annabeth said. "You look like a Lucine… but I think the name Maximus gives you an edge."

Lucien shrugged. "To each their own. I love my name; the whole of it." _Just not said all at once._ "So either way you're respecting me. Thanks."

Annabeth watched her for a moment and this time Lucine didn't squirm internally. Then she nodded, as if confirming something she'd just witnessed. "Welcome to camp Lucine-Maximus."

She tried not to wince, she really did, at the use of her full name and figured getting to know Annabeth would take precedence simply to prevent it from being uttered ever again.

"Thanks." Lucine repeated.

"You're welcome."

Without much thought to it both girls turned to walk closer to the edge of the Archery course, closer to the other campers. Before they'd even reached their target Annabeth started talking.

"I'm sorry about this morning."

Lucine turned to look at her in confusion. "Huh?"

Wise grey eyes flickered towards hers for a second. "Percy doesn't usually greet people by drowning them in water."

A good natured snort rose out of her. "Yeah, I figured."

"He can be such an idiot sometimes." Annabeth sighed.

"He's a guy." Lucien replied simply, as if it were law.

Which made Annabeth smile slightly. _Score._ "True."

"I'm half to blame for what happened anyway. I didn't realise it before I came here but I think I'm more of a confrontational person than I thought I was." _At least when it comes to guys anyway._

"I understand."

Over to their left, one of the students pulled back too far on their bow. It snapped; an audible crack that caused his arrow to whiz past the two girls and hit the tree where Chiron was standing conversing with Phil, not three feet from his head.

The centaur took a moment to glance at it without any apparent worry. He exhaled and called out. "That's the third time this month Tim."

The boy had been frozen in position with his mouth dropped open in horror until Chiron spoke to him. He dropped his arms looking mighty bashful and apologetic. "S-sorry Chiron."

"It's quite alright, but try to remember. When I suggested you extend your bow arm, I didn't mean for you to _over_-extend." He made a rudimentary illustration with his own bow of how it should be done. "Take it back as far as your arm allows you to feel comfortable."

"Okay. I-I will."

Lucine caught Phil giving both the boy and Chiron a look that warred between of sheer disbelief mixed in with a large dose of '_oh hell_ _no_' and hilarity. His face twitched as if it couldn't decide which expression would be more satisfying.

She brought her attention back to Annabeth who was watching the proceedings with a small frown. "So is Percy Jackson always such an idiot or am I simply special enough to earn his rancour?" Lucine inquired jokingly.

Still watching Tim, Annabeth replied. "Actually he's a pretty good guy. He's friendly with most of the campers, even the ones that annoy him. I don't usually see him loosing his temper like he did earlier."

This, to Lucine, could pretty much be translated as 'yes; he hates your guts, puny little new girl'. _Yay, me, _She thought. Although she had to admit that hadn't seemed all that angry earlier. More like… playful, in an extremely dominating and irritated kind of sense but…

_Maybe I read him wrong. _Lucine considered to herself quietly. _Like Annabeth I don't him at all. I shouldn't just presume._

It took her another second to realise Annabeth was talking once again and on a guilty flash she turned back to listen.

"…he's somewhat of a hero now anyway."

_Er, what? _"Beg pardon?"

Annabeth glanced at her. "Last year, when Percy first came to camp he was framed for thievery."

Lucine found herself frowning surprisingly. "He's not the type."

Annabeth's stare continued without blinks to break it up. _Or_ to decrease its intensity. Her eyes had a literal physical affect on their victim. _Swell. Maybe it's something to do with her mother._

Eventually she spoke again. "No he isn't the type. It wouldn't have been that big a problem except for what he was thought to have stolen."

"What was stolen?" _The girl's lavatory seat perhaps? Magic eight ball? Chiron's car keys?_

"The Lightning Bolt."

It hit her in a flash.

The smell of ozone surrounding her, the sound of thunder and the smell of singed satyr hair…

_Zeus's Lightning Bolt: his primary weapon and symbol of his overall power and authority. Holy…_

"H-how does someone even go about doing something like that?"

Seeing her bafflement Annabeth shook her head. "It isn't what you think. In the human world such a weapon would shrink. The creations of the gods possess power to alter at will so that the eyes and ears of the public don't misconstrue the things they may see. And the gods are… arrogant. It would be insanely easy for them to drop their guard, for someone to sneak past them and take their treasures…"

She seemed to finish without finishing and oddly enough Lucine glimpsed what she thought was bitterness in Annabeth's features.

"Who actually stole it?"

She hit the nail on the head it seems. Annabeth's head almost fully turned away from her as she replied, seemingly calmly. "Another camper. He… Someone who believes that the gods are outdated and cruel."

Lucine wanted to ask for the thief's name but she had a feeling, more a gut intuition that Annabeth wouldn't answer. Maybe it was nothing but she swore she heard what sounded like understanding in the words Annabeth had uttered. As if she didn't quite disagree with them. As if the thief had been someone she'd known and that his ideas weren't necessarily spoken from the mind of someone cruel and greedy.

…That Annabeth might feel some empathy for those words and for the thief. That's were her sadness sprouted from. It was spread around her, thinly, barely noticeable. Maybe because Lucine was an outsider she was able to glimpse a hair of it.

And she'd said the word 'believes' not 'believed'. Not past tense. He was still someone Annabeth cared for… or possibly hated.

"What happened?" She dared ask.

"Percy found the Bolt and brought it back to the gods."

Her answer was simple and concise; nonchalant. Too steady and _too_ straightforward, too neat to be considered the whole story. Sensing that Lucine was far too new to camp to further question Annabeth she took a different route.

"And that makes him a hero?" He'd retrieved something stolen and that had garnered him respect, sure, but hero worship? "Unless there's _way_ more to the story." She frowned, struggling with the concept of Perseus Jackson as a hero; analogous to Heracles and Achilles… you didn't get labelled 'hero' for nothing. "I'm really trying to picture him in that light but…"

She caught Annabeth smiling in complete understanding, her funk over with and locked away for future introspection. "His attitude makes it almost impossible for most people to see him as such and I think he likes it that way."

"I suppose."

"Want to hear about it, the whole story?"

With various bits omitted of course.

Lucine nodded, game. "Hit me."

…**oOo…**

It wasn't long before the boy in question, now clean from a long shower, came wandering into the Archery grounds, as if by accident. A casual coincidence. Or at least it would have been to Lucine if she didn't know that Percy knew the exact layout of Annabeth's camp timetable. The way his green eyes lit up, even from a distance kind of spoke volumes about it.

His expression immediately soured when he spied Lucine scowling at him as if in disagreement with something he was wearing.

Annabeth was stood next to her, not quite leaning in but comfortable, as if she'd just finished a discussion on her favourite subject: graphic construction and its flaws. If there was one thing that Annabeth loved it was taking something that was good and making it better, making it great.

…Which was why it worried him ever so slightly to see her in cahoots with the tiny, red pain in the ass currently shooting flames at him.

He barely managed to say hello to Annabeth before the girl moved forwards to stare at him. She was still frowning; her strange eyes were giving him a thorough once over that made him feel slightly uncomfortable and they looked to be a little sceptical too.

And then she opened her mouth. "You. You had a sword fight with Ares?"

_That came out of nowhere. _He looked briefly at Annabeth who'd obvious gabbed about him and he was sure was trying not to smile.

"Yes?" He said his reply as if it were a question.

The red head's eyes flickered once again down his form and back up again. "The God of War?"

He had no idea where this was going. "Yes."

"And you won?"

"Last time I checked."

The frown on her face tightened as if she were fighting with herself internally. She bit her lip, eyes glaring incredulously at him and she nodded to herself but it seemed to be more of a forceful kind of thing, as if she were trying to convince herself he was telling the truth and that _yes_, he in fact had clashed with the War God himself. It wasn't impossible. It could _definitely_ happen.

It seemed it didn't work.

"Right." She twitched before shaking her head in little sceptical jerks.

Then whirled around at speed. "PHIL!"

From across the grass the satyr whirled right back at her. "WHAT LUCE?!"

"IS IT POSSIBLE, EVEN IN THE _REMOTEST_ OF CHANCES THAT _THIS_ GUY COULD FIGHT IN A ONE AND ON BATTLE WITH ARES?! AND WIN! HANDS DOWN!?"

Even from where she was standing she could still see the spasm of absolutely shocked dubiousness freak out across his mug.

"_THAT_ RUNT!?"

"YEAH!"

"BWAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!" Cue amazingly insulting storm of laughter from her teacher. "HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!"

And life made sense to her once again. She turned back to look at a fairly offended Percy. And smiled. "Ah… I feel better now."

He chewed on the inside of his cheek as if to keep from saying something he'd regret. Instead he said, "Go suck on a lemon."

Far commenting on the beyond lameness of his hurried comeback Lucine pulled a face, her nose involuntarily wrinkled. "Ugh, I hate lemons."

He stared at her. "That's kind of the point."

"Oh. Well then that makes sense." She nodded passively and by the look on his face he couldn't help but be completely perplexed by everything Lucine did. "So, hey!"

He blinked. "Er, hi."

She pointed her thumb to behind where Annabeth was standing. There was one kid left practising. "Want to have a go. Phil says I need the practise." He didn't quite but the implied suggestion had been there in, oh, everything he'd said to her.

For a moment Percy thought about it, looking from the training dummies to the red head before shrugging. "Sure."

"Awesome."

The words 'I'm going to have a go Phil' were barely out of her mouth before both he and Chiron were trotting over deciding for both youths that a bulls eye board would be much more efficient in determining her aptitude. There was the centre ring, the bull's-eye filled in with red, and the three subsequent rings outside of it surrounded in white. Having already retrieved a standard bow from a side unit Percy was already notching his arrow.

Lucine was watching him in intrigue. "It's supposed to be really-"

He let go of the arrow. It shot forwards and thudded into the second innermost ring.

"…Difficult." She finished disjointedly.

Chiron's smile was fond. "You are looking at the strongest young warrior at camp. This is only his second time practising Archery."

The pride in his tone was obvious.

With obvious ease Percy's arms settled down by his sides as he gazed at his own work. Then he looked back at her and just underneath his serious expression there was a challenge.

_Oh, it's on._

**I've decided not to be overly detailed in this story, at least not during this stage. Since I'll be going through the books my writing will automatically change into something more mature… or at least I hope it will otherwise I'm talking absolute bollocks.**


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